The Fallen Box in the Attic
by SearchingForThatBlueBox
Summary: Albus Severus is cleaning out his Great Aunt Petunia's attic and makes a discovery about a secret that had been taken to the grave with Lily and James Potter. His grand-father isn't who they thought he was. I suck at summaries. Please read! :p
1. The Fallen Box

The Fallen Box in the Attic

Mum and Dad say it's important to have a good set of values and to get that, do you know what they do? They put me to work! It's an outrage, it is. Aunt Petunia died a few months back; since Uncle Vernon had died a few years ago she had been living on her own. Since Cousin Dudley was too grief stricken to clean (eye roll) our family was asked to do so. Of course, my family agreed, even after the rotten treatment my father had received from them. So now I'm stuck in this dusty, dirty attic, cleaning. I was just about to finish up for the day when I elbowed a box that was on a shelf.

"Brilliant." I say to myself.

I kneel down and pick up the contents that had spilled out of box. They're old muggle pictures. I take them one by one and put them back in the wooden box, which I realise has a crack in it from me knocking it over. Hopefully dad won't notice. I grabbed all the pictures and then realized there was still one left on the ground. I pick it up and with a jolt realise that it's me in the picture. But the picture looks much too old for it to be me and I don't recognize the place or the girl standing next to me. Then I realize that the boy in the picture isn't me, though we look remarkably alike. The boy in the picture had longer, darker hair and dark brown, almost black eyes. But despite looking rather poor, he had a brilliant smile on his face. He was looking at the red-haired girl. I realize that if this boy looks so much like me it must be my grand-pa James and grand-ma Lily in the picture. I flip the picture around to look at the date. 1968. I didn't know they had known each other for that long. Then I notice what's written on the back: Lily Evans and Severus Snape, summer '68, summer day at the park. Dad had talked about Severus Snape, feared potions master of Hogwarts, spy for the Order, the man that I aspire to be like; 'he was a brave man' my father had always said. To honour him I was named after him. I am quite proud of my name. Albus Severus Potter. I hold the picture closer to my face. He did have a strong resemblance to me. Curiosity piqued, I took all the pictures out again and looked at them. There were many pictures of grand-ma and great aunt Petunia, but there were no others of Severus and Grand-ma. I looked at the box in disappointment. Then I saw something sticking out of a corner inside of the box. Of course! I face palmed myself. Da! There was a secret compartment! I took the screw driver (muggle tool) that my father had given me to take out the shelves with and wedged it between the sides of the box and the secret compartment. With a satisfying pop it opened. Inside the secret compartment was a thin book that said Lily's Diary, don't touch. Well, she is dead, so... I opened the book. On the first page it said: Happy birthday Lily. I know you wanted somewhere to write your thoughts, so I got you this. Severus. 1975. I flipped the page to the first entry.

"June 5th 1979

Dear diary,

I had forgotten that Sev gave me this. After our falling out in fifth year I didn't even want to look at this book, so I had hid it under my bed. We still haven't talked to each other. I miss the friendship we had. I miss him. I saw him in Diagon Alley today. He looks so pale and sad. He's been through so much in his short life. I wish he had made better decisions. It's silly but as a young girl I had always pictured myself being married to him. As a woman I realise that that will never happen. I'm glad I have James and I love him very much. I get this ache in my heart whenever I think of what life would be like without him. But, sometimes I get that same ache when I think of Sev. I wish I could have saved him! Though I think I was right that he was beyond that point. He was too far into the dark arts by fifth year and I couldn't stand being around his friends.

I know he knew I was there today but he didn't even look at me once! I wish this ache in my heart would go away. I'm afraid to admit that...I miss him very much. It's so confusing! He was my first crush, my first kiss, naturally I thought he would be my first everything, my everything. Don't get me wrong I love James. But it's a different kind of love. I don't know how to explain it. This is just a silly diary anyway, I don't need to explain myself. Severus was my past, James is my future. No point in dwelling what will never be.

Lily"

I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know that Snape had grown up with my grand-ma, my dad had never told me that, though my dad didn't really talk much about the relationship between Snape and his mum. I know I shouldn't be nosy, and this is a woman's (my grand-mother's, no less) private thoughts but I am a Slytherin after all.

"June 28th 1979,

Dear diary,

James had been gone on Order duty for a week. I was worried about him. But then he came home and he brought me flowers (lilies, of course), chocolates and brought me out for a wonderful evening. He still amazes me and this just reminds me of the reasons of why I fell in love with him. He's such a great man. Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve him. I can hear him calling for me! Oh, I hate writing such a short entry, but James says he has another surprise for me. It probably won't be awhile before I write again. I have such a busy schedule!

Love,

Lily

September 13th 1979,

Dear journal,

Finally, I have found the time to write again! I have the weekend off so I have plenty of time on my hands. It's awfully lonely here. James is gone on Order business again with Sirius. Remus has gone soul searching in America, whatever that means. Peter isn't very good company. I'd say that this journal is more company than Peter, which is pretty pathetic. Frank and Alice have gone on a second honeymoon and Mary is too wrapped up in her new relationship to pay attention to anyone else but her new beau. I have found a positive side to being lonely, though. I am redecorating one of the rooms. James and I are trying to have a baby. The room we had stored all our junk will be used as the nursery. So my mission for the day is to clear out all the junk."

That entry ended abruptly there and didn't continue. I looked at my watch. 4:30. Soon Dad will be yelling to everyone that it's time to go home for supper. I turn the next page and realize that grand-ma didn't really write much in her diary. There were only three more pages left. This makes me feel sad because suddenly I realize that this is the last bit we have left of grand-ma. Dad will be glad I found this, but I know it will make him sad.

"November 1st 1979,

Dear diary,

I don't even know where to start with this entry. I feel as though my world has come down in one fell swoop. One bad decision and everything has been ruined. I don't even have a reasonable excuse for what I have done. It is horrible and unforgivable. I don't deserve this blessed life and wonderful husband... I need to calm down and start from the beginning. James was gone last night. Halloween is my favourite time of the year. Since I didn't know that I would be home for the night I decided to go out to Diagon Alley to buy candy for the children that would stop by. On my way there I saw Severus heading to the potions store. He looked horribly sad and he was limping. It took all my courage but I decided to go up to him. He told me to sod off, like I had expected he would say. Finally he told me that if I would stop bothering him he would talk to me, only briefly. We decided to apparate to muggle London so that no one would see us together. According to him, it would be dangerous for me if we were spotted together. We walked to a small coffee shop where we sat in silence for the longest while. I couldn't help but observe how broken he looked. To some degree he has always been like this, but never had I seen him this bad! After some coaxing he finally started to tell me what had been going on in his life. Once he started, it seemed he couldn't stop.

He told me that he wished he had never joined You-Know-Who's ranks because of the despicable things he had been forced to do and had witnessed. He told me that he had only joined because he had no one else to turn to, only his Death Eater friends. At that moment I realized that it was partially my fault he had went down this path in his life. If we had stayed friends he may have not become a Death Eater. He looked like he was going to be ill, so I apparated him to Spinner's End. The house looked the same as I remembered it as a child; dark and looming. I still don't understand why he still lives there even after all the horrible things that have happened to him in that house. Once he had sat shakily down on the sofa, I turned to leave. He asked me, almost begged me, not to leave. So I didn't. He looked so sad and lonely. Like a lost puppy... sort of. After what seemed like forever, sitting in silence, he told me with reluctance that he had always been in love with me. I was speechless. I hadn't known. Why couldn't he have told me this before? Things could have been so much different. Within seconds he was standing right in front of me, his face only inches away. Of course, you must think he kissed me. But he didn't... I did. He was so surprised he didn't even move. I was about to leave and tell him this had been a big mistake. But then he kissed me back and it was like a dream come true. Too bad that it is too late for us. Well as you can imagine, I woke up this morning in a bed, and it was not my own. He told me that Voldemort was sending him on a mission, a dangerous one, he told me he might not come back. I cried and we kissed and we said our final good-byes. It isn't until I got home that I realized I had betrayed James. I'm so bloody sorry! I don't know what I should do now. I know I have to tell James some day... but, in the very distant future. I just hope that this won't ruin my marriage and that James can forgive me. I just... I don't know what to do.

Lily"

There were water marks on the page. I think they're from her tears. I can't believe my grand-ma kissed Snape! Ew! Uncle Ron used to call him an oversized bat, until Dad had told him to be respectful of the dead. He used to say that his hair was gross and greasy. I looked at the picture again, but the boy's hair didn't look greasy. I look sadly down at the journal; there are only two more entries left.

"January 14th 1980

Oh Merlin! I just took a pregnancy test. Not the muggle kind but the wizard kind. It tells you how far along you are, the day of conception and the gender of the child. I am having a boy! Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. I feared that this might be the results. To my utter horror, the charm I cast on myself told me that I had conceived this child on October 31st 1979. Merlin's beard! What will I tell James! I... I feel like such a traitor. The wizarding world will frown upon this and have even more reasons to hate muggle borns. I have to hide the baby's true parentage, no matter the cost. I found a charms book that will permanently change the looks of my baby. As much as it pains me to hide whatever features Sev will pass on to this child, it would be too dangerous for the baby and Sev to know the truth. He's still gone on his mission and I fear for his life. I haven't heard a word from him since the morning of the 1st of November. Hopefully by the time I write again, things will be better.

Lily"

Oh dear Lord! Never in a million years had I ever imagined this! Of course, it would make sense why I looked so much like young Severus from the photo. He was my grand-father! This could destroy my dad if he ever found out. And yet, dad hates lies. I know I have to show him this. Unfortunately there is only one entry left, though it looks like grand-ma had torn out a considerable amount of papers from the book. What was so secret that she couldn't even keep in her diary? I mean, I can't think of anything more earth shattering than finding out that my dad is Snape's kid. I look back down at the diary.

"August 1st 1980,

Dear Severus,"

Odd, this one was dedicated to Snape. Almost as if she had wanted him to find her diary.

"Harry is the name James and I decided for our son. He looks so much like you. My heart aches thinking about changing his true appearance. But it must be done. I hope you understand. I am so very tired, but I needed to write this down. There is so much turmoil in my heart. I love you and I love our son. When I first realized Harry was your son I had wished he was James'. Please forgive me. But now, as I look down at this beautiful being, I couldn't be happier that he is yours. If only you were here. I wish that you could hold your new born son. I wish this stupid war would just end and leave us alone. I wish that the man sleeping next to my bed in a chair was you. James loves Harry. I don't deserve him as a husband. I told him what had happened and he forgave me. He is assisting me in changing Harry's features. I can't even write how unspeakably wonderful James has been through all of this. I know that he was always awful to you in school, but I think that him protecting our son has more than made up for it. At first he was furious and had left for months. I thought he would never come back. But he did, though reluctantly. He is still very angry at me. I think that changing Harry's features into his own will make it more bearable for him to raise Harry. I really hope he doesn't come to resent Harry. He is an innocent and had no choice in who his parents are. James swore to protect the baby and I. I think he still loves me and that is why he is doing all this for Harry and I.

People are saying that you are dead. I'm praying that you aren't, but you have been missing for seven months and I haven't seen you in nine. Once this war is over, I will return Harry's natural features and I will tell you all about our son. If you never get this letter or my diary then this secret has gone to the grave with both James and I. I love you so very much and I wish I could say more, but I am exhausted. Giving birth to your son was no easy task.

Always,

Lily"

Oh Merlin, this is even weirder than I originally thought. My dad's life is like one of those muggle soap opera's.

"James, Lily, Al, let's go! It's time to go home!" I jump in surprise as I hear my dad yell out. I grab the pictures and the diary and put them in the box. I hear a flutter behind me and find that I had been sitting on a picture all along. I pick it up. This picture is a magical one. My grand-ma is holding a baby, my dad, in her arms. She blows a kiss at the camera and is mouthing something. I stare at it for a few minutes until I realize that she is mouthing: "I love you, Sev." I decide that I will tell my dad tonight.

"Come on, Alby. We're going to be late for supper!" I hear Lily yell out. She was the most impatient out of all of us.

"Coming!" I yell out. Before I leave the attic I make sure I grabbed everything and then run down the stairs to my family.

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	2. The Truth

Hey, so here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Harry POV

Albus came down the stairs looking paler than usual.

"Are you okay, Al?" I ask him. His green eyes look up at me. They're wide, as if he thought I caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

"Do you want to talk after supper?" I ask suggestively. He looks up at me again.

"Er, sure." I notice he's holding a cracked box against his chest. Maybe it was because of the box that he looked sick.

"What's that?" James asks him, peering over Albus' shoulder.

"Nothing." He says softly, turning his body away from Jamie and hugging the box closer to his chest.

"Come on boys." I say exasperated.

"Hum hum." Lily clears her throat. I roll my eyes.

"And girl." Lily smiles and stands patiently in front of the fire place. She's almost a spitting image of her mother and has her attitude. Jamie floos first, then Albus.

"Come on pumpkin." I tell my daughter. She walks into the fireplace with me. In a flash of green, we're home. Alby and Jamie are already sitting at the kitchen table waiting for us. Alby still has that mysterious box sitting on his lap. Lily runs over to her mother and gives her a hug. Ginny walks over to me and we kiss.

"Blech." I hear someone say in the background, we ignore him. After supper, instead of playing outside with his siblings, Albus is sitting by himself in the living room. I sit next to him. He jumps slightly.

"Oh, hey dad." He says with false cheer.

"What are you doing?" I ask him curiously.

"Just thinking." He tells me.

"Would you like to share?" Alby looks around the room and spots his mother cleaning in the kitchen.

"Can we talk in my room, with one of those privacy spells?" Something's troubling my son; I've never seen him this quiet or worried, not even when we went to King's Cross for his first time at Hogwarts.

"Of course." I tell him. We get up from the sofa and head to his room. I close his door and cast a muffliato.

"What is it, Alby? You know you can tell me anything." Alby nods and slowly opens the lid to the mysterious cracked box. He puts a picture in my hand. It's a muggle picture and it's yellowed with age. I look at it. There are two young children playing at a park. The young girl is my mother; she looks around nine years old. The boy in the picture looks a lot like Alby, but I know for a fact it isn't my father. For a fleeting moment I think maybe it's a cousin. But that's foolish because I know my mother doesn't have cousins or a brother. I turn the picture over. I almost drop it as I see the name in the back. Of course, I should've known this. I knew my mother and Snape had grown up together. But, why did he look so much like my Albus? Maybe he is Severus reincarnated? No, that's ridiculous; everyone knows reincarnation is a concept made up by hopeful muggles.

"He looks like me, doesn't he?" Albus asks me, forcing me to come out of my reverie. I nod.

"I know why." He says softly. I look up at him. He looks like he's going to cry.

"Al, what's wrong? What did you find?" I have this awful feeling in my stomach.

"You're not going to like this daddy." He hasn't called me daddy since he was seven. I can feel the blood rushing out of my face. He hands me a book entitled Lily. My mum's diary, I realise. I look up at Alby in surprise.

"I read it while I was up in the attic. I know I shouldn't have, but she's my grand-ma and I was curious." Alby kept rambling on nervously. Tears were forming in his eyes. I tilt his head up to look at me. He stops babbling and takes a deep breath.

"It says that..." A tear falls down his cheek and I wipe at it.

"It says that grand-pa James isn't your dad." I feel dizzy and light headed. I sit on Jamie's bed across from Alby's. Somehow, I knew this deep down, but I never wanted to acknowledge it. As a child I had always wanted a father, I was desperate for one. I had imagined that random men with black hair were my father. For a fleeting moment on that first day at Hogwart's I imagined Snape as my father too. Though after the first words he uttered to me that idea had quickly vanished. The only other time I had viewed him as a father figure was when he was dying in the Shrieking Shake and he had told me to look at him.

The answers to my questions were all in my hand in this tiny book my son had given me. But, I didn't need to read the book to know that Severus Snape was my father. Alby came up to me and gave me a bone crushing hug. I hadn't realized I was crying until his small hand wiped away the tears from my face.

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	3. The Diary

Here's the next part! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't anything or anyone.

Harry POV

I finished reading my mother's rather short diary and looked down at my son who had fallen asleep on my lap. My mind felt like it was stuck in denial mode. I went through my whole life thinking that James Potter was my father when he really wasn't. A small part of me was telling me this might be a joke. Maybe someone planted this book in my aunt's attic. I cast an authentication spell on the book. The results proved that this was my mother's diary. I cast a spell that could detect a person's hand writing. Again, it said it was my mother who had written this. I cast all the spells I could think of on the damned book and they all came up with the same result: this was my mother's book and she was the one that had written in it. Jamie walked into the room, cheeks flushed from playing outside, a great big smile on his face. It's funny that I had never noticed that any of my children really looked like James Potter, like me. None of them had glasses. Though, Alby had inherited my green eyes, Lily had her mother's eyes and Jamie had been born with dark brown almost black eyes. Ginny and I had wondered who he had gotten his eye color from, but we had just thought that he had inherited them from a distant relative. What had my mother done to me to make me look the way I do now? I want to know what I really look like, but I'm used to the way I am. If I had the choice between the curiosity of looking the way I'm supposed to look and staying the way I am, I would choose the latter. I would need to tell Ginny. I have so many questions and the people who have the answers are all dead. James' smile fades as he sees the state that I'm in. I hate when my children see me like this; weak.

"Dad, what's wrong?" He asks me, sitting next to me on the bed. I try to tell him it's nothing, but when I try to speak nothing comes out and I just shake my head. Jamie hugs me. Alby wakes up when James accidentally elbows him in the head when he hugs me.

"Sorry." Jamie mumbles to Alby as the boy glares at him. A lump forms in my throat. How could I have not noticed this before? Had Severus... my father, known of my true parentage? Would he have cared? I hug Jamie and Alby and wordlessly leave the room.

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><p>Albus' POV<p>

Jamie looks at me confused.

"What's wrong with dad?" Should I tell him what I had discovered or let dad do it? I trust Jamie, he's my best friend. Anyway, like mum says I can't leave things bottled up inside.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Jamie nods at me eagerly.

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><p>Harry POV<p>

"Goodnight baby." I hear Ginny tell Lily. She leaves the room and shuts the door behind her. She jumps when she sees me standing against the wall. She puts her hand over her heart.

"Merlin, you scared me." She exclaims. Then her eyes narrow at me.

"What's wrong?" She asks softly, coming up to me. I swallow hard. I can't seem to form any words. I hand her the diary.

"What's this?" She asks curiously.

"My mother's diary." I choke out.

"Oh, Harry." She says sympathetically. But, she doesn't know why I'm like this, she's sympathetic for the wrong reasons.

"Read it." Is all I can manage to say. She shakes her head.

"It's your mother's, Harry. I'd feel like I was invading her personal thoughts."

"She's dead." I say, rather emotionlessly. I can't stand her sympathy anymore, so I head to our bedroom, leaving her looking at me stunned.

She comes in a half hour later in tears and hugs me. She blubbers about something or other. I'm not really paying attention at this point. All I do is hug her back and stare at a spot on the wall. It feels better this way: emotionless. Maybe it's shock that's making me this way. We fall asleep over the covers with Ginny's head resting in my arms, her eyes swollen from crying.

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><p>Albus' POV<p>

Jamie looked at me angrily.

"It's not right to disrespect dead people, Albus Severus; especially dad's parents."

"It's true!" I protest. "I read it in grand-ma's diary. That's what it said."

"I don't believe you." Jamie always believes me. It hurts to think that my own brother doesn't believe me. James looks at me now worriedly as my face falls.

"Is it really true?" He asks hesitantly. I nod quickly.

"I can show you the pictures. Dad left them here." I grab the cracked box and fetch the picture of grand-ma Lily and... him. I hand it to Jamie. He looks at the picture and his eyes widen.

"Whoah." He looks up at me and then at the picture.

"He looks like you." I roll my eyes.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Well, why didn't you show me this in the first place?"

"I didn't really think about it." I say sheepishly. Jamie takes the pictures and delicately puts it on his desk. He takes out a picture of me and him playing outside and puts the older one in the picture frame. He smiles at it.

"There. Now we have a picture of grand-ma and grand-pa." Once he has the facts he's a lot more accepting then I am. I envy him for that.

"Night Jamie." Jamie is still looking at the picture frame.

"Night Alby." I shut the light off. James is still staring at the frame in wonder.

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><p>Harry POV<p>

Morning comes, and I look out the window at the beautiful day. I love summer. I smile. I try to push Ginny on to her pillow. Then I notice the diary, still clutched in her hands. I had forgotten about it. There's suddenly a heavy weight over my chest and I can't breathe. I need to leave. By the time I'm out the door of my home I'm hyperventilating. Albus runs out the door after me.

"Dad!" He yells out. He's got his coat half way on.

"Wait up!" He says.

"No, Al, stay home. I need time to think." He looks hurt.

"Oh." He says.

"Look Alby, I won't be gone for long, I just need to be alone for a bit, okay?" He nods dejectedly. I turn around, ready to apparate.

"Wait!" He says, and I turn back around.

"Yes?" I say rather annoyed now.

"I know that they're dead, but isn't there a portrait of him in the headmaster's office?" I notice he says him, instead of his name. I know he's afraid to say his name, so am I. I sigh, I'd thought about this earlier, but it wasn't the same.

"The portrait isn't him Alby. He can't answer my questions." He looks up sadly at me.

"Oh." He turns around and starts walking back home.

"This sucks." I hear him mumble. I can't help but agree with him. I turn away from my home, my family and apparate to the first place that comes to mind.

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	4. Grief

I know it's short, but I wanted to update and this is all I have time to write this week. Cheers!

Harry POV

The Shrieking Shack looked untouched by time. I hadn't been here since the final battle. Hermione and I had come back to retrieve Snape's body but Filch had already done it for us. The last time I had been here Snape had been lying dead on the ground, blood caked to his throat, my hands had been coated with his blood. This is where he took his last breath. I had been the last person that he had seen. I don't know if he had told me to look at him because he wanted to look into my mother's eyes or if he had wanted to look into his son's eyes. Had he known I was his son? He never showed any signs of knowing and he had always treated me like rot. But he had protected me.

For some reason, my legs can't support my weight anymore. I fall down onto my knees. My eyes are riveted to the spot where my father had died. I can feel my body shaking, tears fall down my cheeks. My heart aches for a man that I barely knew. I feel this hollow emptiness in the pit of my stomach. I don't know how long I'm on my knees grieving. It could be seconds, minutes, hours, days. Time doesn't matter in this moment. The shrieking shack gets darker and spookier and I'm reminded of a time when the war was still raging. It feels just like yesterday. I wish I could've saved him, but I know there's nothing I could have done. I hear the air crack as someone apparates close by.

"Harry." I hear a voice say softly. I stand up and dust off my knees and turn around to look at the owner of the voice. The way the sun is now positioned in the sky gives her hair a glowing effect. She looks like an angel. The sight of her always blows my mind away. Her eyes widen and she looks at me sadly. I probably look like shite. She rushes over to me and puts her small hand against my cheek and then embraces me. I love her so much.

"How did you know I would be here?" I finally ask. She chuckles.

"You are more predictable then you think, dear husband." It's my turn to chuckle.

"Let's go home, darling." I tell her. She knows me too well. I feel better now; I needed to come here to face the past. A plan starts to form in my head. I need answers to put my mind and my parents to rest. Hand in hand Ginny and I apparate back home.

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><p>Albus POV<p>

"James." I whisper to him.

"What?" He grumbles.

"Get up." I throw the blankets off him but he stubbornly throws them back on himself.

"No." He says stubbornly. The prat!

"Get. Up." I say becoming impatient.

"Fine, I'm up." He says sitting up in his bed. His hair is all messy like dad's after he flies on his broom.

"What do you want?" He says, eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

"We're going to Hogwarts."

"What? You're crazy, it's the summer and we'll be in so much trouble if we're caught. I'm going back to bed." He says laying back and throwing the covers back over himself. I roll my eyes.

"Fine. Then I'll just go by myself." I walk out of the room and wait by the fireplace. James will surely come. James grumpily makes his way to my side. He looks at me accusingly.

"You knew I wouldn't let you go by yourself, stupid Slytherin." I shrug. He rolls his eyes. Since dad is the Boy-Who-Lived our floo network is connected to Hogwarts. I also think Professor McGonagall is secretly trying to recruit him for the position of the DADA teacher.

"Hogwarts, headmaster's office." I say in a loud whisper after I had dropped the floo powder. I look around the dark room. Professor McGonagall is usually gone during the summer on business and it seems that tonight was one of those nights. I look around at the slumbering pictures of past headmasters. Snoring is coming from all sides of the room. I walk over to the portrait that I wanted to see, but the man I am searching for isn't even there.

"Humph." I say in frustration, crossing my arms over my chest. I wait for James, but he is taking a long time. Finally there's a green flash in the fireplace.

"Finally." I say exasperated. Seriously, it takes like two seconds to floo. Then I realize what took him so long. Our annoying little sister is looking up at me smugly.

"She threatened to tell mum and dad." He explains. She should've been sorted into Slytherin.

"He's not there." I tell him, frustrated.

"Who?" He asks dumbly. I give him a look.

"Oh right." He says blushing.

"Ahem." We all jump and look around the see where the noise has come from.

"I believe that I can be of assistance." We all look at a picture of an old man with twinkling blue eyes; smiling down at us was Albus Dumbledore.

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	5. The Portraits

Okay, so I've been super busy this past week with a mid-term, a test and lab reports due. So I studied FIVE hours straight about this one section in anatomy and found out one hour BEFORE the test that I was studying the WRONG part! Imagine how maddening that is. Anyway, I read quickly through the chapter and the test seamed easy enough, but still, all that time wasted! I was quite upset. Anyway, I just needed to tell somebody because nobody is up at this time of the night. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy! ;)

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><p>Albus POV<p>

James pushed me in front of him and I glared back at him.

"Umm, uh, hi." I said weakly. Dumbledore chuckled at my obvious discomfort. He smiled at me and waved me over to his portrait.

"I believe the right question for me to ask, is, why are three young children in Hogwarts while school is out, past the normal school year curfew?" His voice was soft and almost hypnotizing. The twinkle in his eyes made me uncomfortable.

"Well, um..." I stuttered. Lily shoved me out of the way.

"Well sir, we're here to see someone." She gave me a smug look. I looked back at James; I didn't know he had told her why we were here. He had a soft spot for her.

"And, whom, might you be looking for?"

"Severus Snape, sir." Dumbledore looked down at us with... curiosity, I think. Then his eyes stopped on me. Our eyes locked and I shifted uncomfortably. Ooookay. What was going on?

"Of course." He said clapping his hands and releasing the awkward gaze. I could feel my cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

"Severus is always wandering around the school. He likes to see what the ghosts are up to. It's awfully boring here during the summer, of course." We all nodded at him like we knew exactly what he was talking about.

Lily stared in awe at Dumbledore's portrait.

"I read about you in Hogwarts, A History. It said that you were the greatest wizard of all time, is it true?" Sometimes Lily came up with the dumbest questions.

"Of course it's true, you berk." Lily looked at me as though she was insulted. If Dad were here, she would've turned on the water works. Dumbledore laughed.

"It depends on the person's opinion, I suppose. I wouldn't call myself the greatest. There are some things in my life that I am not proud of. No, in my opinion the greatest wizards I ever had the privilege of knowing would be a close tie between Severus and young Harry Potter. I'm sure you've heard of him." I rudely burst out laughing and so did Lily. James gave us a look to make us shut up.

"Know him? He's our father!" I said after I had calmed down. The all knowing ex-headmaster of Hogwarts looked befuddled, then quickly recovered.

"Of course, young man, I should've known just by looking into your eyes. You have your father's eyes, Lily's eyes. You reminded me of someone else. How peculiar... I must've been mistaken." He shook his head. "I am only a portrait after all."

"Sir," I said slowly, "What exactly are portraits? I mean, obviously you died, but how can you talk to us and act like the real Albus Dumbledore and have his memories?" James and Lily also looked at Dumbledore for an answer.

"Ah yes, it is quite a complicated spell. Once someone has become headmaster, they will automatically, after their death, have a portrait of themselves hung here in this office. It is quite a complicated spell, but it is essentially a part of our souls that live here." Now I was really confused.

"But, sir, wouldn't that be like a horcrux? Dark magic? Then, you're really not dead?" Dumbledore chuckled.

"I didn't explain that right. This is old white magic." He said, pointing to himself. "It isn't really our souls that are in the portraits, but the essence of it. Do you understand?" I nodded, even though I actually didn't understand a single word he said.

"Now then, I believe I have skipped an essential part in our meeting. Names." He clapped his hands together again. That was kind of getting annoying now.

"I'm James Sirius Potter." James said.

"Naturally." Dumbledore said with a soft smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Lily Luna Potter. It's very nice to meet you, sir." Lily said in her cutest little girl voice, ever the suck up.

"It's very nice to meet you too." He said as though talking to a little child. 'Act like a child and I'll treat you as such.' Dad always said to us when we misbehaved. Maybe that's the message he was trying to convey to the little brat.

"Albus Severus Potter, sir." I said. I'm quite proud of my name. "I'm named after the greatest men my dad ever knew." I added.

"A very nice, strong name. I am quite honoured that your parents named you after me. You must be quite a boy, to have such a name."

"I am." I said without thinking. Whoops. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks. He smiled down at me.

"You must be a Slytherin." He said with a knowing tone. I nodded. Best keep my mouth shut, or more embarrassing things will come out of it.

"Now, then, let's get down to business. You're looking for Severus, you say. I am quite curious to know why, but it is none of my business, so I will leave you to it. If I were you, I would try looking around the Slytherin common areas or Professor Snape's old chambers. You know where that is, don't you Albus?" I nodded. Finally something I knew that my siblings didn't!

"I would join you, but an old man does need rest. It was very nice meeting you. Hopefully it won't be long before we meet again." He said, sitting down in his chair, which was a replica to the one in the room. We silently left the headmasters office.

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><p>Harry POV<p>

It was one in the morning when I woke up. The house was eerily quiet and I couldn't hear James' snoring. I tried convincing myself I was paranoid, but finally gave in to look into the children's bedroom. Just for a quick peek. When I opened the door to the boys' room I realized there were no bodies in the beds. I turned on the light and searched the room. Once I found the boys fast asleep in the closet with a half fallen tent over their heads. But my boys weren't in their room. My heart started beating quicker. What if rogue Death Eaters found my children and kidnapped them? I ran to Lily's room, but she also wasn't there.

"Ginny!" I yelled out in a panic running to our room. She was sitting in bed looking alarmed.

"What is it?" She said rubbing her eyes.

"The children, they're gone!" Her eyes widened and she jumped out of bed quicker than I ever thought possible. She ran to their rooms and double checked and ran around the house, checking every possible area. She had tears running down her face.

"Maybe they went to mum's." She said desperately.

"Ginny..." She gave me a look and I was silenced.

"Okay, we'll check there first." My heart was pounding and I felt more scared in this moment then I did when I knew that I had to die in order to kill Voldemort. We quickly got dressed and grabbed our wands. I went to the floo powder bowl and saw a considerable amount missing. My heart soared.

"Ginny, there's floo powder missing! You were right!" I grabbed her and kissed her excitedly.

"They are gonna be is so much trouble." Ginny said, hands clenched.

"How could they not tell us where they were going?" She asked angrily.

"I bet you anything it was Albus' idea." Ginny nodded, looking murderous. We grabbed a handful each of floo powder and flooed to the Weasley's.

Please review! :)


	6. The Search

**Hey, here's the next update. It's a short one, but hopefully I'll be able to make a bigger update soon, but I make no promises because finals are in a week. Enjoy!**

Harry POV

Ginny marched out of the floo after me. Arthur and Molly walked down the stairs towards us looking bleary eyed and confused.

"Ginny? Harry?" Molly asked.

"What are you doing here at two in the morning?" She asked confused. Arthur looked at us, curious. I knew then by their expressions the children weren't here.

"The children aren't home, mum. We thought they would be here." Gin started to hyperventilate.

"Maybe they went to Hermione and Ron's." I said weakly. We both knew that if they had, Ron or Hermione would have floo called us about it. Luna wasn't connected to the floo because she didn't have a fireplace where she lived. I ran out of ideas as to where my children could have gone.

"You think they've been kidnapped." Arthur said matter-of-factly. I nodded weakly and I saw Ginny do the same thing.

"There've been threats. There's always been threats. We put wards in place to prevent this. I don't know how this could have happened. We need to warn Ron and Hermione." I said slowly, in a daze. Arthur took in a deep breath.

"We can report the children missing to the ministry, but they won't take action for another 24 hours or so." I know the procedure; I am an auror.

"I'll let Ron and Hermione know." Molly said softly, bustling towards the fireplace.

"I can contact Jowler. See if he can do anything for us." Avery Jowler is the Head Auror and a good friend of mine and Ron's. It was lucky for us that he had the night shift tonight. Once Molly was done with the floo, I floo called Jowler's office.

"Wotcher Potter!" He greeted cheerily.

"Avery! Look, my kids have gone missing and we need your help."

"What? Are you serious? How long have they been missing."

"We don't know. We woke up and they were gone. We checked Molly's and Ron's and they're not there. There's some floo powder missing at our place, but there's nowhere else they could have gone."

"It doesn't make sense! They wouldn't have left in the middle of the night and they always ask us to go anywhere!" Ginny yelled from behind me.

Jowler's facial expression suddenly changed. He abruptly got up and grabbed something from inside his desk.

"I received this about a week ago. I didn't think it necessary to tell you Potter because you get daily threats. I kept this one because it was particularly nasty. Robbins and I were studying the letter to determine who sent it. We found a magical signature and traced it. There's a team already stationed in that area for undercover work. I sent a patronus and two of their aurors were sent out to the area where we detected the magical signature-"

"What did the letter say, Avery?" I asked urgently.

"It threatened the life of your children... and gruesomely described how they would torture and kill your children."

"Damn it, Jowler! Why didn't you show me this letter?" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Potter, but it was my decision as Head Auror not to have one of my best auror's judgement clouded by what I thought was an empty threat."

"Well you thought wrong and this _decision_ might have cost my children's lives!" I yelled out angrily. Molly burst into tears. Jowler scrubbed his face with his hands and then sent out a patronus. The message he sent was too low for me to hear. A bear patronus came back and said "Aye."

"Come to my office Potter. You've been given permission to go on location, but _only_ you."

"I'm coming too." Ginny exclaimed.

"They're my children and I'm as good as any of your aurors." Jowler gave her a weary look. He knew she was right. Ginny had been an auror for five years after her Quidditch career ended with James' birth. She had quit being an auror after she had almost died when Lily was three. I could see the exact moment when Jowler gave in.

"Alright. But only the two of you."

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><p>Albus POV<p>

Hogwarts was eerily dark. I'd never seen Hogwarts so dark or quiet since I'd started going to school here. Lily shivered next to me. She was creeped out too. It was cold down in the dungeons. James made himself look as though he wasn't affected, but I know him better than that.

"This way." I said, pointing to a door.

We entered the Slytherin common room and I lead them to another door. To anyone passing by they would have missed it but to any Slytherin we knew where the door was. No Slytherin that was presently at Hogwarts had set foot in the room. Actually, nobody other then the house elves had been in the room since the former Slytherin head of house had died. I had heard some creepy stories about the room and always wondered why the current head of house didn't live here. Maybe he thought it was haunted too. I took a huge gulp of air and pushed the door open. It was heavy and creaked. The room was dark. James took out his wand and said:

"Lumos." Lily and I did the same and the room was alight. It wasn't dusty because the house elves cleaned it. The room had an overflowing book case to the right and to the left there was an old sofa and a tea table next to it. There was an old rug in front of the fireplace. Over the fireplace was a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. The walls were painted a deep blue, almost black. There was a kitchenette area with a small table and a single chair. I felt sad for the lonely man who had lived here. James and Lily walked to a corridor and I tore my gaze away from the mug that was still on the table. Odd that the house elves hadn't cleaned that up. James opened a door to my right. There was a four poster bed and little else in the room. There was a closet that seemed to only contain black clothes. Pretty lame wardrobe, I say.

"This place is creepy." Lily said and shivered. I had to agree. This place almost looked like it was still lived in but I knew for a fact nobody had been in here for over 20 years, which was really odd.

"Can't we get out of here?" She asked anxiously. I nodded quickly. There was no portrait here that Severus Snape could be in. We hurried out of the room pushing each other out of the way, almost in a panic. You know that feeling you get when you can't breathe and you just need to get away? That's how it felt. We searched the portraits around the Slytherin common room but we gave up after we couldn't find him. I was disappointed; I had really wanted to meet him.

"We should get back home." James said in a defeated tone. His black eyes looked into mine and I could see that he was also disappointed. I nodded.

"Yeah, best get back before mum and dad find out we've been gone." We walked out of the common room and up the steps leading to the great hall.

"_What_ are three children doing at Hogwarts during the summer in the dead of night?" A deep voice drawled out of nowhere. We all jumped at the sudden voice that penetrated the silence. I turned to where the voice had come from. There standing in a portrait with an unknown man was Severus Snape. Both men in the portrait were glaring at us.

**Please review and tell me what you think! :)**


	7. Voldemort's Followers

**Here's the next chappy.**

Albus POV

"Um... hullo." I said hesitantly. Severus Snape focused his gaze on me and I suddenly felt as tiny as an ant. This man was very intimidating. I can see why my dad had once said that he could make first years wet themselves. I gulped; in the silence it was rather loud. Lily's eyes looked as though they were going to pop out of her sockets. The other man in the portrait now gazed at us curiously. He had dirty blonde hair and an ugly scar across his face and he wore clothes that seemed like they were from the sixteenth century.

"Well?" Snape said, waiting impatiently for an answer.

"Well you see..." I said at the same time as Lily said:

"It wasn't my idea!" and James said:

"I told him not to come." This didn't look good for me. Snape hadn't taken his eyes off of me and I looked down at my feet nervously. His eyes were like hollow pits. James had the same eye coloring but his were warm and welcoming.

Snape seemed to be getting even more impatient with us.

"I expect a coherent answer from you dunderheads... _now_." He said each word clipped with malice.

"We actually came here to meet you sir." I said. He blinked, looked down at the three of us and then his gaze settled on me again.

"What the devil for?" He snorted, an evil smirk on his face. Or maybe he was just trying to smile and failed miserably...

Lily turned on me and said:

"Yeah, why are we here to see _him_?" I narrowed my eyes at James.

"I thought you told her." I hissed between my teeth.

"No, I just told her where we were going, it's not like-"

"_Enough_." A voice boomed and echoed off the walls.

"Either tell me or leave this castle now. I may be a portrait but I have the means to contact the headmistress." His eyes narrowed dangerously at us.

"You see, I found an old diary in the attic. It belonged to my grand-mother, Lily Potter and it said-"

"Ah, I see; Potter's children. I know exactly why the three of you are here." He said; his voice low and dangerous.

"You _do_?" James exclaimed.

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><p>Harry POV<p>

The alley that we were currently in was darker and dirtier than Knockturn Alley. We were following an auror we'd never met who had an eye patch over his right eye. We were all under a disillusionment charm and had to stay still whenever someone would pass by, which was quite often. The walk towards our destination was long and tedious. The auror with eye patch had filled us in on what they had found out about the location so far. Apparently this area had a high population of Voldemort's old followers. All were low profile criminals; they were the ones that had done the dirty work for Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters. None could be incarcerated because they did not bare the Dark Mark. Their destination was an old apartment building. According the auror 'Eye Patch' there were only three small time criminals that lived within the apartment and they only committed small crimes such as theft. The only reason they had not been arrested was that the aurors suspected they took part in much more dangerous and bigger crimes then thievery. It was even suspected that they were part of a ring of ex-followers who took part in dark magic rituals involving human sacrifice with the goal of resurrecting their long dead master.

"We're here." The auror whispered abruptly.

"Once they see you," he said nodding towards me, "they'll try and bolt. I'll try and neutralise them."

"Alright." I whispered back.

"Don't get yerselfs killed." He glared at us and walked inside the building. He led us up to the third floor. The higher we climbed up the more powerful the stench of urine and death became. Once we got inside the flat we could see three men in black robes sitting around a wooden table in a deep conversation. They did not notice we were there.

"Stupefy!" 'Eye Patch' yelled out and pointed his wand at one of them. The tallest man went rigid and fell out of his chair. The other two were quick. They leapt out of their seats and were shouting curses at us. Ginny managed to stupefy the fattest of the three. The other one was more skilled then his companions. I sent curses his way but he managed to dodge most of them. He had a foot out the window before I finally managed to stupefy him. We chose to question him first.

'Eye Patch' pointed his wand to the immobile prisoner and yelled out: "Incarcerous, ennervate."

"Harry Potter." He spat out my name as he writhed on the floor. I glared at him as I walked around him. I bent down next to him and looked him in the eyes.

"If you don't cooperate with us, we will use any means necessary, even illegal ones." I told him, pushing my wand into the flesh of his throat.

I saw 'Eye Patch' smirk in the corner of my eye. Ginny was keeping, making sure no one would attack by surprise. The man on the ground tried spitting in my face but only managed to get a glob of spit on his cheek. I stood up and turned to Ginny and she handed me a tiny bottle. I signalled for 'Eye Patch' to come closer. He squeezed the Death Eaters mouth open. He tried to protest but 'Eye Patch' was stronger. I put three drops into the man's mouth and waited a minute.

"What's your name?" The man tried fighting off the potion but failed.

"Sebastian Maltus." He spat out. I'd never heard of him.

"Did you serve Voldemort?" I asked, spitting out the monsters name.

"Yes! And I'd do it again! Mudbloods and half breeds are filth. They aren't good for anything." His lips curled in disgust and then a malicious smile crossed his lips. "Except perhaps as concubines. I bet your mudblood mama would've been a good lay."

"Enough!" I yelled out and punched the man in the face. Blood poured out of his nose as he yowled in pain.

"My children have been taken from our home. Tell me where they are!" I pushed my wand harder into his neck but he didn't say anything. Right, it had to be a question. "Where are my children?" I asked, seething. Ginny and 'Eye Patch's' full attention were now on us.

"I don't know where your fucking children are! It'd be a pure idiotic move to try and kidnap Harry Potter's children." He said with a sneer on his face. I punched him once more and his head bounced off the floor with a crack. Damn it!

"Do you know anyone who has been talking about taking our children?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. Everyone talks about it. It'd be great finally getting our revenge. Losing everything you care for, just like you took everything from us! Our families have deserted us! We lost our jobs and our standing in society!" Sebastian's eyes looked to Ginny's left. I looked behind me and saw that the tall man had gotten up.

"Gin!" I yelled out in warning. But the man already had his wand pointed at her throat and then everything went downhill from there.

**The children are going to be in soooo much trouble! Please review! :)**


	8. The Oddity of Snape's Portrait

**Sorry for the long wait. I actually had finished this chapter before Christmas, but was hesitant to publish it because it is a little OOC. Tell me if you like it or not. Feedback is very much appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP, J.K Rowling does.**

_Harry_

The brightness blinded my eyes. I blinked a few times; confused. I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a white room with chairs. It looked an awful lot like a hospital room. I groaned in exasperation. I can't even go a month without landing myself in the hospital. The events of the night came flooding back to me. Ginny had been put at wand point. 'Eye Patch' and I had quickly disarmed the man that had been behind Ginny and then we had stupified Sebastian again. But the third man that had been unconscious had snuck up on me. I think he had knocked me out with some kind of hex.

Ginny, who had been nodding off, looked at me.

"Thank God." She breathed when she saw that I was awake.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Only half an hour. One of the Death Eaters threw a curse at you. I didn't hear what he said, but it mustn't have been anything serious. The nurse said everything looked fine." She took a deep breath.

"I was so scared though, Harry. For a second I thought you were dead. The hex made you spin in the air and crash into the table. It split in half. The mediwitch healed you all up, thank Merlin." I nodded and gave her a tiny smile. I pushed myself up so I could sit and saw a calendar behind her of Hogwarts. I groaned.

"Ginny, I'm so stupid!" I yelled out. Ginny looked at me in surprise.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"I know where the children are. Albus wanted to go to Hogwarts with me yesterday but I needed to be alone. I think they're gone to Hogwarts to see Snape's portrait." I told her. I felt absolutely ridiculous. All these things to get our kidnapped children back and they weren't even kidnapped!

"They are grounded until they are thirty!" Ginny yelled out, teeth clenched and eyes narrowed.

"Come on." She said, pulling me out of the bed.

"The floo in the nurses' station is connected to the Hogwarts infirmary." She said, pulling me with her.

I grabbed my jacket, which was draped on one of the chairs and followed Gin to the nurses' station.

_Albus_

_"Ah, I see; Potter's children. I know exactly why the three of you are here." He said; his voice low and dangerous._

_"You do?" James exclaimed._

"Of course." Snape said with an air of indifference. My eyes narrowed and my heart pounded. The bastard, he knew all along!

"You've come to mock me of my past failures. Your father never had the guts to say it in my face. Now that I'm a portrait it is so much easier to mock me, now that here is nothing I can do about your insults. Isn't that right?" He said darkly with narrowed eyes.

"Did Potter tell you about my pensieved memories, hmm? Oh of course he did. And, what about Albus?" The potions master looked me in the eyes. "Did he tell you that I killed him? Or maybe..."

"Wait, what?" I said, confused now. I knew he was talking about Albus Dumbledore now, but I thought we had been talking about the same thing.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" He purred. My skin crawled at the way his tone changed. From dangerous to deranged.

"This was a bad idea." I said to James. James gave me a small nod. Lily looked scared.

"Don't leave on my account. Please, do tell why you are here, disturbing my peacefulness. I believe your parents aren't aware of you being here. I'd suggest you tell me." His eyes held a hint of amusement. His intention had been to scare us and now, poor Lily looked like she might piss herself. Severus Snape was a Slytherin through and through.

"Of course." I said. "I'd like to start with names of course." I said slyly. An eyebrow lifted. He looked annoyed.

"This is my older brother; James Sirius."

Snape snorted. "Of course." He said with an eye roll. I pointed to my right.

"My little sister; Lily Luna." Something, an unidentifiable emotion crossed his face.

"Predictable." He said with a bored tone. Lily looked insulted and crossed her arms over her chest, her earlier fears forgotten.

"And I'm Albus Severus." The expression on his face was perfect. My name had the effect that I had wanted.

"What?" He spluttered. I could've laughed in his face at that moment, but that would've been quite rude.

"My father named me after two great headmasters, he told me. He said you were the bravest man he ever knew." He looked shocked and he was speechless. He looked like a fish out of water. But then his mouth shut with a loud click and his mask was back.

"Well? I'm still waiting for an explanation." He said quite impatiently.

"Rude." Lily muttered under her breath. Might as well be blunt, no point in going through the details.

"You're our grand-father." Again, this news had the desired effect. He was stunned speechless.

"What?" Lily's voice came from beside me. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked confused.

"James Potter is our grand-father, not _him._" She said, glaring at the still speechless man. Then like a storm came out of nowhere, the man was yelling at us.

"Out! Get out of here! Before I murder you all. This was a very cruel prank, even below your father and grand-father. Out!"

He looked murderous. Okay, so that wasn't the type of reaction I was expecting. The portrait started to shake and Lily let out a little squeal. Severus Snape looked murderous, even a little mental. We started running towards the headmasters' office. All the portraits started shaking and a few fell to the ground. I could see Snape stalking from one portrait to another, he was following us. I felt a sudden fear towards this man and now I understood why my father and uncles seemed intimidated by him, even scared. Uncle Ron had told me that he had almost burst into tears when he had them almost expelled for flying the Ford Anglia to school. Portraits fell all around us and one almost hit James on the head. This man was powerful, even after his death.

"Stop!" I yelled out in desperation. We weren't going to make it to the headmasters' office without one of us being knocked out.

"Don't you see the resemblance?" I yelled out as a last resort.

"I look just like you did and James has black eyes!" The portraits started to shake even more. I took Lily's hand in mine and ran faster. The staircase started to move and for a few moments we were safe from the falling portraits. The people in the portraits were protesting loudly and Snape just kept walking, his cloak billowing behind him. He reminded me of a deranged version of Batman or of an overgrown bat. I'm pretty sure that if he were still alive, we would be dead. Maybe I should've eased into telling him. It probably would have been better to tell him about the diary and shown him the picture I had tucked into my pocket. Then he could've seen the resemblance. I felt defeated; I messed up our chance to get to know our grand-father, even if he was only just a portrait.

_Harry_

We flooed to the Headmaster's office. Everything was quiet except for a few soft snores coming from the portraits. They were still sleeping. If felt odd being back here again. Other then my last year at Hogwarts and meeting with the Headmistress a handful of times, I hadn't been up here. Everything was as Albus had left it except for a few knick knacks that Minerva had added. (She insists that I call her by her given name). I snapped my head towards the door when I heard a loud bang, followed by more bangs. It sounded like there was a battle going on. Ginny and I started running down the steps and out of the office. We headed towards the sound. It sounded like it was coming through the great hall. I hoped it was just Peeves fooling around. But when we got to a hallway there were portraits falling everywhere. Albus and Lily ran into me and almost knocked me over. I was relieved they were here, but I was also quite angry. But now was not the time for anger; I realised that James wasn't with them.

"Where's James?" I asked Albus. He looked puzzled and looked behind himself.

"He was just behind me." He exclaimed. Ginny looked up and around us and started running up the stairs. The portraits stopped falling and there was an abrupt silence. Ginny stopped in her tracks but then started running again.

"What happened?" I asked my two frightened children. They both started speaking at once and all I caught was Albus saying:

"...and then he went ballistics!"

"Who?" I asked.

"Snivellus Snape." He said and I flinched. I'd only told him of that name when talking about the Marauders' rivalry with Snape.

"What did I say about that name? He deserves more respect than that." I told him sternly. He scowled and harrumphed.

"Well he almost killed us with the damned portraits!" He exclaimed.

"He did this?" I asked surprised. Portraits, as far as I knew, couldn't make any physical objects move. They could sing and almost blast your ear drums, but not move anything in the material world. Albus and Lily nodded frantically.

"Harry!" I heard my wife's frantic voice call out. My heart started pounding at her tone and I ran to where I had seen her go. James was lying face down on the ground, portrait splinters all around him. I ran to my son's side and turned him over. He groaned. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"It's alright." I soothed.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around himself.

"A portrait must've fallen on you. We'll get you to Saint-Mungo's. It's alright."

"My head hurts." He groaned. I picked him up into my arms. He was still so small.

"And my arm." He paused and looked up at me. "And my back." Another pause. "My nose hurts an awful lot too." He added. His nose did look like it had been broken. He went to reach out for it.

"Don't touch it." I said quickly and he pulled his hand quickly away. He gave me a puzzled look.

"It looks like it may be broken." I carried him to the headmaster's office and then handed him to Ginny. She gave me a puzzled look.

"I need to have a talk with somebody." I said angrily. And then I turned to the kids.

"All of you are grounded until you are ninety." I said angrily. Albus and Lily groaned. James looked like he was going to pass out.

"Stay awake, James." Ginny shook him a little and his eyes flew open. I waited until they were all gone before I went in search of Snape.

**Please review! It makes my day. :)**


	9. The Confrontation

**Sorry for the long wait, guys. Life is pretty hectic. I think this is the biggest chapter I've written so far for this story (which really isn't that big lol). ;) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not or will ever own Harry Potter! :)**

_Harry_

I angrily left the Headmaster's office with a fierce determination to find Snape.

"Snape!" I yelled out angrily, looking left and right at all the portraits. Some portraits looked angry, but most of them looked scared. A mad chuckle could be heard echoing off the walls. For a brief second I thought it was Snape laughing at me. There was a sudden breeze and then I heard a familiar cackle.

"Little Potty has come back!" Peeves said in a sing song voice.

"Sod off Peeves; I'm not afraid of looking for the Bloody Baron and sicking him on you." Peeves let out an ear piercing screech and he was gone.

"Snape!" I yelled out once again. There was no answer and after several minutes I huffed in exasperation and turned around to leave. I saw a dark figure in the portrait facing me, with a sneer on his face. I jumped in surprise.

"Merlin's beard!" I let out involuntarily.

"Potter." The man said, his eyes blazing. I said his name with as much loathing.

"James is seriously hurt because of you." I said seething.

"He deserved it." Snape said between gritted teeth.

"No, he didn't." Snape laughed humourlessly. The nerve of him!

"Do you know what your children told me?"

"I can imagine." Snape narrowed his eyes angrily at me.

"You were in on it, then." He said decisively. I shook my head.

"You're a fool, old man." I said as an answer. Snape snorted and walked over to another portrait in a lazy, non caring manner.

"Just like their grand-father, still taunting me even after my death." He said angrily.

"And even after your death you can't let go of school yard bullying."

"It was more than that!" He spat. I was surprised that he had lost his temper; it wasn't often that I had seen him lose control over his emotions. He quickly erected his neutral mask.

"You stupid git, grow up!" I spat back. In a way, I couldn't believe I was arguing with a portrait. The portrait Snape was currently in started to rattle. I looked at it, startled again. As far as I knew only poltergeists could move objects after their deaths.

"How the bloody hell are you doing that?" I snapped, tired of this game we were playing. This is the first time I see the man as my father and we were bloody fighting, just like the good old days. Snape looked at me with loathing and finally ground out: "I don't know." Obviously, Snape didn't like admitting that he didn't know something.

"Would you just stop?" I said getting exasperated with Snape walking around to different portraits.

"We need to talk." Snape snorted again, but stayed in one portrait. This one had an old woman with a night gown on, sleeping in a pink velvet chair.

"Well, go on, then." Snape said impatiently. I scratched my head; it was a thing I did whenever I was nervous or felt awkward.

"Did you or did you not sleep with my mother?" It was as awkward for me saying this as it probably was for Snape hearing me ask it. Snape narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think your mother's... exes are any of your business." He said coldly.

"Just tell me." I said exasperated and tired of the day's events. I'm too old for this. Snape ignored me and walked to another portrait. Naturally I followed.

"My son, Albus, found a diary written by my mother. I placed all the authentication spells that I could think of, it was hers. She wrote that she had... been with you while being married to my father- James-" I didn't know what to call him now, it was all very confusing, "and that I was conceived during that union." I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I can't and never would be able to picture Snape with my mum, it was disturbing. The thought itself brought bile to my throat. Snape scoffed.

"Even if I had" which was pretty much a confession "it's impossible. You are Potter's clone."

"Did you ever think of the fact that my mother's two best subjects were Potions and Charms? Did you ever count back nine months? Did you even think I could've been your son? Did you even want me?" During my rant I realized that each of my questions became louder and louder.

"Now you're the fool." Snape hissed.

"Why's that?" I asked angrily, though not as loudly as before.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read, you incompetent fool." I shook my head. Snape was grasping at straws, thinking of every possible excuse he could, as weak as they were. I opened my jacket pocket and took out a picture. It fell out of my mum's diary last night; I think Alby forgot to show it to me. It was a wizard photo of my mum holding me as a baby. I was wrapped in a blue blanket and all you could see was pink skin and a tuft of black hair. My mother was mouthing something that looked a lot like 'I love you, Sev'. I put it in front of the portrait so Snape could see. He looked down and narrowed his eyes at the picture. His face was neutral the whole time.

"This doesn't prove anything." He finally said tersely. He was a stupid git.

"Did you see my son? His mother and I never knew where he got his looks from until a couple of days ago. He saw a picture of you, you were a few years younger than he is now, but the resemblance is unmistakable. Did you ever suspect that I could have been your son? Did you know and didn't want to acknowledge me?" I needed to know this. Snape was silent. I yelled at him to answer me.

"Yes." He finally said. I thought that was it until he continued. "Of course I suspected. But Albus told me you looked just like _Potter_ and when you were eleven and I saw you for the first time I knew that any hope of you being my son was _gone_." This was more than I thought he would admit. It was kind of weird seeing him like this.

"What about now? Do you believe me?" I asked looking at him. Snape paused, thinking.

"I won't believe it until you brew the lineage potion." I rolled my eyes in exasperation. He knew I was rubbish at potions. I'll ask my wife to brew it for me.

"Alright." I said. "But I want you to apologize to my children for terrorizing them. I'll bring them back a week before the start of school term." Without saying another word to each other, I left.

_Alby_

The Healer had fixed James up rather quickly. His nose had indeed been broken and he had a goose egg on his head, a big ugly bruise on his back and his arm was sprained from landing on it funny. But now all his injuries had been healed, though he was acting really weird with all the potions they gave him.

"Alb eats the sleep. Okay?" He had told me when he first woke up. Lily and I laughed at him. He was really woozy and it took us a while to make him stand properly in the floo to go home. Dad got back home not even 10 minutes after we did. He looked weary and exhausted. He said hi to all of us and then went to his bedroom. Mum made sure Lily was in bed, scolded us again and then went to her bedroom, probably to talk with dad. I went to bed feeling disappointed. Severus Snape was a disappointment. Sure, I didn't think he would welcome us with open arms but he didn't need to almost kill my big brother. Speaking of James, he is currently snoring loudly and drooling on his pillow case. Gross!

I bet it even sucks more for dad, being that the man is his father and all. Scorpius, my best friend who is also in Slytherin, told me that his grand-father was a big disappointment. He had met him when he was eleven at Azkaban Prison. He had told me the man was insane and he begged his father to take him back home. His father had also seemed to be disappointed in the man. I would tell my dad to go talk with him about disappointing fathers but apparently they're enemies.

_The next morning_

It is eight o'clock and the house is eerily silent. The door to my room opens and Lily walks in. She walks to my bed and sits on it. She looks worried and upset.

"Uncle Ron is here." She told in a quiet whisper.

"Awesome!" I say. Being around Uncle Ron is always fun. But Lily shakes her head, tears falling down.

"What is it?" I ask in a panic.

"Mummy and daddy are gone to the hospital. Something is wrong with daddy."

**Thank you for reading and please review! Tell me if it's too OOC, I wasn't really sure about the meeting between Harry and Severus, so please let me know what you thought about it.**


	10. Heart Attack

**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

_Harry_

I woke with a start in the early morning. I was still exhausted, even more so after sleeping. I hadn't felt this tired since the night after the Battle. It was still dark in the house and I had to go to the loo.

"Lumos." I said. Nothing happened. I repeated this again with the same result. Something was wrong. I started to panic. Why wasn't my magic working? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I tried a different spell, again nothing happened. I could feel my breath coming in short gasps, there was a burning sensation in my left arm and my chest felt like there was something crushing it. The world started swimming around me. I heard Ginny say my name but it was like someone had put a dark and heavy blanket over my head. Everything went black.

_Albus_

"What do you mean dad is at the hospital?" I exclaimed. He had seemed fine the night before. Maybe Lily had had a nightmare and was mistaking it for real life. James had woken up at this exclamation and looked utterly confused at the discussion that was transpiring between my sister and me. I walked out of my room, Lily was right behind me. Uncle Ron was indeed sitting on our sofa in the living room.

"Uncle Ron? Where are mum and dad?" Uncle Ron sighed and told us to sit. James entered the room looking groggy. He was rubbing his eyes and seemed not to notice that he was only wearing one sock. He sat down heavily next to Lily.

"Was sup?" He said to Uncle Ron. He was still half-asleep and maybe still drugged up from the previous night.

"Where's mum?" He asked looking around the room as if I hadn't just asked that.

"Your mother's taken your dad to the hospital, something happened to him this morning." James sat upright and looked wide awake.

"What happened?" He exclaimed. Ron shook his head.

"I don't know. Your mum floo called me to come here and was already gone by the time I got here. Your Aunt brought Rose and Hugo to grand-ma's and is at the hospital with Gin right now. Why don't you guys get dressed and we can go to grand-ma's?" We all shook our heads.

"No, I want to go see mummy and daddy." Lily said pouting. I nodded in agreement and so did James. Uncle Ron sighed again.

"There's nothing you guys can do there, it's best you go to grand-ma's. I'll let you know when there's any news." We fought for awhile but Uncle Ron won the argument and so we all flooed to gramma's.

It was _hours_ until we heard anything. James and I sat on my gramma's sofa the whole time waiting for news. Lily decided to go play with Hugo and Rose after a half hour of waiting. Grand-ma tried to get James and me to eat and it took her awhile for us to finally cave and sit at the breakfast table. After eating we went back to the sofa silently watched a scarf being knitted magically. After three hours of hearing nothing, Aunt Hermione finally came through the floo and looked at us. She gave us a small half smile. She hugged us and then Lily went barrelling into her arms and burst into tears. Aunt Hermione comforted her and James and I just looked on.

"Well?" I asked impatiently. Aunt Hermione told us to sit on the sofa. Hugo and Rose sat on the ground, looking up at her and she sat on the rocking chair opposite the sofa. Lily was sitting on James' lap silently crying.

"It seems that your father had a heart attack this morning."

"What?" We all exclaimed, even gramma.

"Isn't he too young for that?" James asked at the same time as gramma said: "I never heard of such a thing! Wizard's don't have heart attacks." Aunt Hermione looked saddened.

"No, James, he isn't too young. Babies can have heart attacks." Then she turned to gramma. "The Healers ran every test they possibly could. It seems that Harry's magical core is practically nonexistent." The room was deathly quiet. No one knew what to say.

"But how?" Rose said in a small voice. She looked baffled and it took a lot to puzzle Rose.

"We still don't know, but the Healers are trying to figure it out. It seems that your mother and father were in a duel the previous night with Death Eaters. We think that perhaps the spell that hit Harry did more damage than we thought. Ron is interrogating the men that they imprisoned last night."

She looked up at Gramma who I realized with horror was silently crying. If Gramma was crying then things must be hopeless. Lily started bawling again and I couldn't help but feel angry at her. Couldn't she stop making all that noise? She wasn't a baby anymore. I couldn't stand the sombre feel of this usually joyous place. It felt smothering. I had to get out. I ran out of the room and outside. The fresh air felt great and I felt like I could actually breathe once again. I saw a garden gnome in gramma's garden and picked it up and threw it with as much force as I could muster. It went pretty far, the furthest that I had ever thrown a gnome before. It seemed to calm me so I kept throwing the pesky buggers away with all of my strength.

I don't know how long I was doing this, but after awhile I realized that someone else was throwing gnomes. James had a determined look on his face and looked even angrier then I felt. One of the gnomes landed with a sickening crack, got up and limped away. I smiled smugly at it when it looked at me with a snarl. Soon the garden was gnome-less, a little too soon for my taste. James sat down on the dirty ground and huffed, looking at the herd of gnomes walking away from the Burrow.

"Do you reckon they'll come back after that? I think I broke that one gnomes leg." He said with a crooked smile.

"'Fraid so. They always come back, persistent buggers." I said, sitting next to him, watching the gnomes march away grumbling angrily. Gramma came outside and gave us some hot cookies. I guess we had been outside for quite some time. We had the cookies in silence as gramma looked searchingly at us.

"Hermione left an hour ago. She'll be back any time now to bring you to the hospital. Go and wash up." She told us, waving her arms at the crooked house. Mum told us that this Burrow wasn't as big and spectacular as the first one. After the war, they had rebuilt it. Mum said it didn't have as many rooms because most of the children were too old to live at home after the war. Instead of the eight rooms, there were now five, but they were much larger so they could contain more people.

Not even a minute after we had washed our faces and hands Aunt Hermione was back. We took our turns to floo to St-Mungo's. Mum smothered us in kisses and bone crushing hugs when we stepped out of the floo.

"Can we see dad now?" I asked her impatiently. She shook her head and told us that dad hadn't woken up yet. The Healer came and explained to us in more detail what was wrong with dad.

"We're running tests on him right now to see what kind of spell has been performed on him. Auror Weasley." The doctor said, looking behind us. Uncle Ron came into the room looking successful and out of breath.

"The scum who did this to Harry finally caved and told us what spell he used. It didn't take much really, only a threat that I would remove his-"

"Ronald." Aunt Hermione said in a warning tone, looking down at us.

"Oh, um." He cleared his throat. "Right." He looked at the Healer.

"He said he invented the spell himself. The spell can't be detected and its purpose is to latch onto any magic in someone's core, rapidly draining any magic in him. Auror Thomas is still interrogating him about a counter curse. I came as soon as I found out what it was, hoping you could find a cure in case that Son of a" throat clearing, "doesn't say anything else."

Mum looked like she might faint and Aunt Hermione's face was beet red. It didn't look like she was breathing. Uncle Ron was still huffing and puffing from having run to us. A nurse came out of a room down the hall and walked up to us.

"He's awake." She said quietly. "And he isn't happy." She directed this fact to the healer.

**Please review, I always like to hear what you have to say, but please no flames. ;) Until next time!**


	11. The Switch

**Hey, real short, it's kind of a go between. This isn't where I was originally planning to go with this chapter. I was half way through a different version of this chapter, when the idea struck me. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it. Warning: there is swearing in this chapter.**

My head is pounding and the bright light is a fucking nuisance. What in the bloody hell happened to me? It feels like I've been run over by a hippogriff! I look around the room, frantic. The too bright walls and the pathetic Hallmark cards were a dead giveaway. I was in a hospital. Why? I was pretty damn sure I was dead the night before.

"Nurse!" I yell out. My voice is scratchy. I look around for a cup of water but there isn't any. The mediwitch comes bustling into the room and hands me a small cup of water. I drink it, revelling in the feel of the cool water running down my burning throat.

"Why in the bloody hell am I in a hospital?" I ask, my voice sounded off to me.

"You've had a heart attack mister Potter."

"Heart attack? Potter?" I ask, sitting up in bed. What the hell? I stand up to tell the woman that she should get sacked for mixing up her patients. I sneer at her and stand up into her space and realize that I don't remember being this short.

"I assure you that I am not nor ever will be a Potter miss," I look at her name tag, "_Maryweather_. I _will_ however have a word with your supervisor. It is not professional to get your patients mixed up."

The mediwitch looks confused and walks over to the chart in front of my bed. She reads it and looks up at me. I stare at her in the eyes. She looks up at me but instead of looking at me in the eyes she looks at my forehead. Fucking coward.

"Um... uh... I'll be right back sir." I glare at her and sit down on the bed. I run my hand (which is attached to an IV) through my hair. I pull my hand quickly away. I don't remember my hair ever being this short. Why in Merlin's beard would they cut my hair? I walk into the bathroom, dragging the IV with me (which was extremely annoying) and closed the door behind me. I look into the mirror and jump back in surprise whipping my body to look behind me, ready for a fight. But there's no one there, it's only me. I slowly look into the mirror again.

"Bloody hell." I say, touching my forehead. Before I can even process this, the door whips open.

"Harry!" A distraught red head wraps her arms around me. My thought process comes screeching to a halt. Wait... Harry? I push her away from me.

"Harry?" She says in a hurt tone. I open my mouth when I see two kids looking at me curiously. My mouth drops as I look at them. I stumble away from the red head and sit down on the hospital bed.

* * *

><p>Albus POV<p>

Dad looks really... weird. The word itself can't even describe how he's acting right now. He's just staring at James and I.

"Dad?" James is the first to speak as he walks up to him. Dad just stares at him in the eyes. His mouth is hanging open like a fish out of water. His head slowly turns to me and his eyes widen. Mum is looking at dad funny.

"Harry, are you alright?" She turns to the doctor.

"Is it normal for cardio patients to have amnesia?" She whispers, but the room is so quiet that we all hear it. Dad looks at mum confused and then it seems a light has turned on in his head.

"Ms. Weasley." He exclaims. Definitely not what I was thinking he was gonna say. Mum frowns and turns again to give the doctor a puzzled look.

"Ms. Weasley, Harry? I haven't been a Weasley for over fifteen years. I'm your wife." She half yells. She turns to the doctor again.

"Is it possible? I mean, maybe the deprivation of the air to his brain caused him to have amnesia." The doctor shakes his head.

"No, this is something else." It seems that the doctor might know more than he is saying. He sighs.

"The spell that was cast on your husband last night most probably has something to do with this. I've read about this once a long time ago, it's a wonder I even remember it. The criminal that the aurors caught didn't invent this spell; it just hasn't been used in centuries. Its purpose, mainly, _is_ to drain a person's magical core. But, it was also known for its negative side effects. It's why it was banned many centuries ago. "

"What is it?" Mum asked impatiently. I wanted to know too. All eyes are on the doctor. He looked like he had just received a Porsch on Christmas morning.

"There are many side effects to the spell, including soul alteration. If the person's magical core becomes depleted to an extreme, the magic will latch onto the closest magical soul in his environment. I don't recall the spells name. But whoever this is, it isn't your husband." Mum's mouth dropped.

"Well, now that that's been settled, how about we get me back to my body, shall we?" My father's voice rang through the quiet room, yet it didn't sound like him.

"Who- who are you?" Mum whispered. James backed up and almost ran to me.

"Come now, Ms. Weasley, you were always bright. Who am I?" He asked her, his eyes piercing into hers. I'd never seen such intensity in my dad's eyes, it was unnerving. Mum's eyes widened comically.

"No, you're dead. This isn't possible. Where's Harry? What did you do to Harry?" Mum was angry. I know I shouldn't say this but... this was totally awesome! I'd never had this much excitement in my life before. James looked at me and it seemed that he was also amused. My dad was smirking at my mum, though it wasn't the friendly, playful smirk he sometimes had, this one was... unnatural.

"Who is it, mum?" I finally asked; the suspense was killing me.

"Professor Snape." She said in a small whisper. Okay, so, this wasn't so awesome anymore.

**Please review! :)**


	12. The Grand Inquiry

**Sorry it's been so long and that this chapter is so short. Please review and tell me what you think. If you don't like it, let me know so I can improve it, just don't be harsh. Thanks :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

We were having a staring contest at the moment. Well, actually it wasn't really a contest but none of us were blinking. My dad, or really Snape, was staring at me with narrowed eyes and I was staring right back at him. Mum had left about a half hour ago to talk to Uncle Ron and James was sitting next to me looking back and forth between the two of us.

"Where's my dad?" I finally asked, breaking the tension. Snape kept glaring at me.

"Well?" James said impatiently.

"How should I know?" He snorted.

"Well you did take over his body." I said annoyed.

"Do you remember anything from the afterlife?" James asked. He shook his head.

"No." He said, in an annoyed tone.

"Nothing? Not even a glimpse of a white light?" James continued.

"No." He said in annoyance. James sighed in defeat. It was really weird looking at my dad knowing that it wasn't really him.

"Where're your glasses? Can't you see?" James asked. I think Snape was getting annoyed with the game of 20 questions.

"I can see perfectly fine." He groused.

"But, my dad has horrible eye sight. Here." I grabbed my dad's glasses and walked over to Snape and gave them to him.

"I am not wearing these atrocious things." He said in disgust.

"Just humour us." I said annoyed. He put them on his face and then ripped them off.

"Your father does have horrible eye sight, but I can see perfectly fine without them." I narrowed my eyes and looked at him in confusion.

"Are you saying that his eye sight is... cured?" I asked hesitantly. Snape huffed in annoyance. The door to his room opened and my mum and Lily walked into the room.

"Daddy?" Lily asked hesitantly.

"No." Snape simply said.

"Oh." She walked over to James and sat on his lap.

"Where is he?" She asked curiously. Snape glared at her and Lily's eyes widened comically.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." She told him and Uncle Ron, who had just walked into the room, had to stifle a laugh.

"That's a nice way of putting it." He said.

"Mr Weasley." Snape sneered, though the expression looked out of place on my father's face.

"Professor." He said. He sat down in front of the hospital bed.

"I'm just going to ask a few questions, so we can try and figure out what's going on."

"I already got the grand inquiry from these... children." His lip curled upwards. What was the deal with this guy? You'd think he'd be a little more cheerful coming back from the dead and all. Uncle Ron made a face. It would be really odd seeing your best friend sneer at his own children, even while possessed by an ill-tempered potion's master.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Uncle Ron asked.

"Nagini coming at me and killing me. Pity that the last thing I saw was the three of you." He paused, seemingly in thought. "Did Potter watch those memories?" Uncle Ron nodded sadly.

"I'm glad that he won." Snape said. Though he was staring at Uncle Ron, his eyes had a glossy look to them as though he was somewhere else. Uncle Ron seemed momentarily stunned by Snape's admission. Then he cleared his throat and continued questioning him.

"Do you know how you got here?" Snape snapped back to attention.

"No." He said.

"Do you know how we can get Harry back to his body?" Snape seemed to ponder this question.

"I might." He said finally. "I'll need to go to Hogwart's and retrieve my books. Whatever caused this to happen was dark magic. If I do not possess the correct books then I will retrieve them from Malfoy Manor. Draco owes me." Uncle Ron snorted but tried covering it up by coughing. Snape narrowed his eyes, opened his mouth as though to say something, and then promptly shut it.

"Once the Healer's release you we'll get to work. Hermione can help you." Uncle Ron said with a fierce determination. Snape didn't seem offended that no one wanted him to stick around with the living.

"Ah, the know-it-all." He said rolling his eyes. Uncle Ron's face turned to a deep red. Mum put her hand on his shoulder. I hadn't even realised she was back in the room.

"If I were polite I'd make up an excuse to get rid of you all. Considering I am not, I'd like some peace. Get out of my room." Snape suddenly said. Everyone seemed frozen. Uncle Ron's face turned a darker shade of red. Mum seemed offended but ushered us out of the room and Uncle Ron reluctantly followed us. Mum went back into the room alone and was there for about five minutes. When she came back she had a determined look on her face.

"We'll get you father back." She told us.

At home in my bed, I prayed that my father would return to us. Snape was a great disappointment. Ever since I found that box in the attic, I'd thought that having this man as my grand-father would be great. My father had told me stories about his bravery and sacrifices, I looked up to him. After meeting his portrait, I thought maybe if he'd been alive he would've been a better person than that grumpy portrait. It seemed that all he was, was a big fat disappointment. Though another part of me couldn't help thinking about _how_ he could've become a bitter, angry man. From what little my father had told me about him I knew that he did have a pretty hard and unjust life. Maybe, after everything he'd been through he just didn't know how to be nice.


	13. The First Memory

**Thanks to everyone who have reviewed and put this story on their alerts/favourites. :) Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's so short, but I seem to have very little time on my hands (exam period is starting in less than two weeks) and this is all I could come up with in a half hour. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

3rd person POV

_Severus slowly opened his eyes. Everything around him was bright. He felt disoriented and confused._ Where was he? _His last memory had been of staring into Potter's eyes as he died. For a second, he thought he had seen Lily's face. It was only a hallucination of his dying brain, he thought bitterly._

_"Oi Snape!" He heard a male's voice come from his left. What in the bleeding hell? That sounded like Black. After all his work to try and redeem himself he was in Hell?_ I never get a break, even in the afterlife,_ he thought. He looked to his left and there was Sirius Black leaning nonchalantly against a tree._

_"So I'm in Hell." He said resignedly. Black laughed._

_"Come on, get up you berk." Severus grumbled something under his breath and got up. He stared at Black, unsure of the man's intentions._

_"Well, hop to it, we're missing the show." Black said, motioning for Severus to follow him. Severus looked at him confused._

_"What show?" He said slowly, punctuating each word. Black pointed in front of him. All of a sudden they were standing in the middle of a bunch of ruins. Severus felt like a brick had fallen in the pit of his stomach. It was Hogwarts. The place had been his home for most of his life and it now lay in ruins. Smoke was billowing from each direction. Severus followed Black in a confused stupor. When they got closer to the castle he saw familiar faces of people lying dead on the ground. He felt sick and tried not to look at the bodies. Most of them he recognized as students, former students and classmates. He tried not to let it affect him. Years of Occlumency was the only thing keeping him from not cracking._

_"Dumbledore is talking to Harry." Black said as if this were a normal occurrence._

_"Harry?" He inhaled sharply. "The boy is dead?" He felt oddly saddened by this bit of news. Black stopped suddenly and Severus almost collided into him. Black studied him and let out a small chuckle._

_"Don't tell me you care for him?" Black said with a small trace of a smile on his lips. That did it for Severus._

_"How can you be so calm about your godson's death, whilst we stand in the middle of a field of dead bodies? I always knew you were cruel and demented but this takes the cake, you mangy mutt." He told him disgustedly and marched away from Sirius._

_"Harry took the resurrection stone." Sirius said simply. Severus stopped in his tracks and Sirius passed him as he walked by._

_"One thing about being dead Snape is that we know a lot more then the living." Sirius called over his shoulder._

* * *

><p>Snape POV<p>

I gasped for breath as I awoke. That had been a very vivid dream. Maybe it was the first memory from my after life? I looked around myself and saw that it was still dark out. I shut my eyes and went back to sleep.

The wind howled outside the window, the sound of footsteps outside the door and the mechanical whir of machines could be heard when I next awoke. The sounds surrounding me are overwhelming. I can hear my heart beating just like I had heard it stop all those years ago. Except this wasn't really my heart, this was Potter's heart and that just reminds me that I don't belong here. I died and this life I am currently living isn't mine.

I want to live, because Merlin knew my life was shit and I could do with a nice, peaceful life. I keep reminding myself that Potter's family is waiting for him to come back. No one wants me here and I am fine with that… They want Potter back and I will get Potter back. Fuck, I'm always doing shit for people. Don't I deserve a break? Apparently not.

I hear shuffling near me and I open my eyes. Standing in front of me is a boy with wide, green eyes and black hair. It's the Potter boy… Albus. He looks at me startled.

"Oh, uh… hullo." The nuisance says. I sit up in the bed and raise my eyebrows at him.

"Yes?" I ask impatiently.

"Oh right. The healer said you can leave when you're ready. Mum said she'll be waiting in the waiting room for you." I wait for him to leave but he just stands there staring at me.

"What?" I say in exasperation. Being dead for over twenty years hasn't helped my temperament much.

"I wanted to give you something." The boy shifted from one foot to the other. He seemed nervous. He handed me an old leather novel. Lily's name was written upon it. I recognised it as the one I had given Lily many years ago. I looked up at the boy in surprise and confusion.

"I want you to read this, but not right now. Wait until after you find a way to get my Dad back." He said this in a rush. I opened my mouth to ask him why, but he kept talking.

"You have to promise, alright? You can't read it right now." He said fiercely. I silently looked at him and then down at the book. It was very tempting to open it now and read what she had written inside it.

"I promise." I told him and immediately wanted to bite my tongue off. Albus smiled at me and his eyes lit up. They reminded me so much of Lily's eyes.

"Thanks." He said.

"Hurry up, mum's waiting for you." He added as he walked out the door. I groaned and lay back on the bed. I needed more sleep before confronting the Potter family.

"Hurry up!" I heard a voice say from the door. I groaned and started getting ready for what was bound to be a crazy day.

**Please review!**


	14. The Hunt for Answers

**Here's the next part! I also wanted to inform you that the reason the flash backs aren't in 1st person POV is that I thought it was better written as a third person POV. Also I wanted to keep this story as only Albus and Harry POV and since Snape is in his body that also counts, but only while he is undead. Does that make any sense? Probably not. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't anything or anyone.**

Albus POV

Dad, I mean Snape, walked out of his room ten minutes after I had left. He looked grouchy; it seemed as though that was the only face he knew how to pull.

"Hello." Mum said uncertainly. Snape huffed and walked right past her. Mum growled angrily. James gave her an amused smile. She rolled her eyes and walked after Snape. We followed her. It looked like Snape had already left.

"He went to Hogwarts." I tell my mum.

"I know Al, thank you." She had an edge to her voice. We flooed to the castle.

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><p>Snape POV<p>

I stormed into the castle, walked past Albus' desk and hurried down the stairs. I felt naked without my robes billowing behind me. My intimidation factor had taken a hit. I heard a female voice behind me.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Oh, she was just talking to the brat. I kept walking and then halted. I was the brat. I turned around and glared at McGonagall.

"Minerva." I gave her my best sneer. She seemed taken aback.

"Mr Potter. What is the meaning of this?" She asked angrily.

"I'm using my celebrity status to break into Hogwarts and become Headmaster." I say sarcastically. I keep a straight face as I see hers turn to a bright red.

"I have never... what is wrong with you Harry?"

"I don't seem to be myself as of late." I say ironically.

"I would say so." She said fuming. Then my fun is spoiled because the Potter's have arrived. Minerva seems relieved.

"Ginny, thank Merlin. I don't know what has gotten over your husband, but he…"

"Minerva. That is _not_ my husband." She glared at me and I glared right back. Minerva was baffled.

"Snape's taken over his body." The youngest pipes in, sounding a little too amused.

"What? How is that even possible?"

"That is why I am here Minerva. I need to get to my office promptly to go through my notes. Has anyone disturbed it since my absence?"

"N-no." She stutters. I turn and leave her.

"I'll explain it all later Minerva. Thank you." Ms Weas- Mrs Potter says.

"So." The little red head looks up at me. She doesn't seem intimidated by me. She probably would be if I didn't look like her father.

"What's it like? Being alive again, I mean." I actually have to think about the question before I answer her. We're still walking quickly and Lily has to practically run to keep up with me. I try not to think of the other Lily, the one I knew from another lifetime. She plagued my thoughts when I was alive and now it seems she plagues them while I am undead. My thoughts return back to reality when the girl looks up at me expectantly.

"Confusing and a lot less relaxing then I thought it would be." Though I've never actually thought of being undead. She smiles up at me.

"Yes, I suppose it isn't. It would have been nice to know you if you weren't in my dad's body, that is. My dad's talked about you a lot, you know. He says great things about you, but you seem grouchier then I thought you would be. It wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer."

"Have you forgotten that I am already dead?" I say angrily.

"You see? That. Stop thinking the worst of people. It was just a saying anyway."

"Lily, come over here." Thank Merlin.

"We're having a conversation, mum." Weasley looked at me, smiled mischievously and said:

"Alright, keep talking."

"So anyway…" And she keeps droning on and on until we reach my office. The Potter's look at me expectantly.

"I can't work with the four of you hovering over me." I say in dismissal. They huff in unison and leave. Bloody hell they are annoying.

I start looking through the notes that are on my desk. It is past one o'clock in the morning when I feel myself getting tired. I could usually work for over 48 hours without any sleep, but this body has taken a toll. It was only days ago that I, he, _it_ has had a heart attack. But I keep reading through my notes, determined. Though soon I am lulled into the land of dreams…

_Severus was walking on the castle grounds. Bodies were everywhere. The sight sickened him and he wanted to turn tail and run. Severus was many things, but a coward he was not. He followed the black haired man with a sneer plastered on his face. Sirius smiled._

_"There he is." He said looking over at his Godson. Severus watched in awe as he saw Voldemort fall to his knees and disintegrate._

_"He did it." He said in disbelief._

_"Of course he did. I never doubted for a moment that Harry would be the one to win this." Sirius had a proud smile on his face._

_"I'm so proud of you Harry." Sirius whispered, caught in his own world, completely forgetting about the dark man behind him. Severus kept watching as Harry got up, albeit a little unstably. Black turned sharply on his heel._

_"There'll be celebrations where we're going. Come on." He said, walking back towards the woods. Severus hesitated, looking back at Harry and the castle, _his home_ and then he reluctantly followed Sirius. He really had no other choice anyway._

_"There's someone that's been _dying_ to see you." He laughed at his own joke. Severus couldn't think of anyone that would want to see him. Maybe it was Albus. Once he stepped foot in the woods, everything around him disappeared. He was in a bright white room. Black was nowhere to be found._

_"Hello Severus." He recognized that voice. He spun on his heel and saw…_

I gasped as I awoke. The dream had been so vivid. I remember seeing someone. Someone I wasn't expecting. I racked my brain for the answer, but none came to me. Who had it been? I tried going back to sleep to continue my dream, but I was so pumped with adrenaline that it was an impossible task. So, I went back to my task of going through my notes. I only had about a book and a hundred loose papers left to go through. I doubted I would find the answer here, but I persevered. About an hour later I became thirsty and my stomach grumbled in hunger. I summoned a house elf and drank my tea and ate the biscuits. I kept working, until my elbow knocked my tea cup to the ground. I still wasn't used to this body. I bent over to pick the cup when I saw the tempting diary on the ground. I remember placing it there when I had first arrived. I had been too preoccupied spelling the dust out of the room to think of the diary. My mind wandered as to what could possibly be written inside it. Why couldn't I read it now? Why did I have to wait until after I found a way to get Potter back? I grabbed the diary, opened the first page and then quickly shut it. I promised the boy I wouldn't read it and I always keep my word. I wouldn't start breaking my promises now. I sighed, set the book in one of my drawers and went back to my gruelling task.

**If the POV changes from the flashbacks are confusing you or annoying, let me know and I'll fix it. I just thought it was better written that way, but maybe not. (Shrugs) Lily hasn't really talked much in this story so I thought it would be good to have a Snape-Lily convo. I hoped you liked it. Anyway, please review! :)**

**~doomsday2012**


	15. Mr Malfoy Pays a Visit

**About time, you say. Yes, it has been awhile. I didn't really know how to progress with this chapter. I got a job! Well, two actually. :) I am very busy, though I enjoy my work very much. I hope you like this, please send me some feedback. I realised half way that Snape's POV wasn't in first person. I will change that when I have the time. EnJoY!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Albus POV

The days passed by slowly. The house was empty without dad and everybody was starting to get restless. Mum was more prone to burst into tears and Lily was more clingy than usual. James and I tried cheering them up with Uncle George's joke products but that only caused mum to go into a rant about 'those bloody blasted things'. Then she promised to castrate Uncle George for giving the joke supplies to us. I shutter even thinking about it. That wasn't a good day for any of us. Snape hadn't contacted us and I was starting to worry he left the grounds in my dad's body. Would he do that? No, I don't think so. Even so, I think it's time we paid him a visit. I was on my way to my parent's room when mum walked into me.

"Oh, Al, you should watch where you're going." She said with a scowl on her face. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't my fault!

"I'm going to Hogwarts to check on your- Snape's progress." She said with a sudden sad look in her eyes.

"I really hope he's close to finding a solution to this mess." She said, but she wasn't really looking at me. She was looking outside and then she squinted her eyes. I looked at where she was looking. There was a blob, a person I think, making its way towards our house.

"Stay here, Alby. I'll go see who it is." Mum took out her wand and walked outside. Nobody ever walked to our house. They either flooed, apparated or drove here (Uncle Ron liked to drive ever since he got his license; he was horrible at it). I watched as the blob got bigger. What shocked me was that the man, I was pretty sure it was a man, had bright blonde hair. The only people I knew with that hair color were the Malfoy's. I ran to dad's office and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak he kept in his drawer. I put it on and snuck outside. When I got close enough to mum I realised that it was indeed Mr Malfoy. My best friend is Scorpius Malfoy and I'd stayed over at the Malfoy's a few times (though mum and dad hate it) but I didn't see Mr Malfoy that much. He was a quiet man and didn't say much. He always looked like he was in pain except for when he spoke to Scorpius. He was nice to me, though the first time we met his face was strained and he looked as though he was in pain. The only thing he's ever directly said to me was: "Tell your dad I said thanks." That was it. It was odd that he had walked here. What was he planning on doing?

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Mum's voice cut through my thoughts. She looked as shocked as I was. Mr Malfoy, who was uncharacteristically dressed (blue jeans, polo shirt and messy hair), grimaced.

"I've told you already, call me Draco." Mum, in turn, grimaced.

"Answer the question, Malfoy." She said, her face turning red.

"I've found some journals upon Pot-Snape's (grimace) request. You've certainly got yourselves in an odd predicament." He said, smiling lopsidedly. Mum looked like she was going to say something, when Malfoy raised his arms in the air in the universal sign of surrendering.

"I searched all night for these. It wasn't easy locating them. Anyway, he should find the answers in these. I'm going to Hogwarts to see him, but I thought you might like to bring them yourself. He said you hadn't stopped by in a few days." He shrugged. "It'll be nice talking to him again. He's my godfather, you know." He paused. "I'll hate to see him leave again… but if you need any help getting your husband back… I owe all of you my life. Thank you… for everything." He looked like he was about to leave when mum spoke.

"Thanks Mal- Draco." Mr Malfoy smiled, waved and walked back up the hill. It seemed as though he had shed ten years of burdens with that simple phrase. Mum held a few old books in her hands; she smiled softly and headed back into the house. I quickly followed before the door closed.

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><p>Snape POV<p>

"Good afternoon Mr Malfoy." Snape said, looking up at his godson who had just entered into his office.

"It is a relief to see someone of my own house. Gryffindors are too sentimental and rash for my taste." He said with a scowl on his face. Draco smirked.

"It is nice to see you too, professor." Draco said, looking around the room. It had been years since he'd been here and he was overtaken with a sense of nostalgia. He looked back at Snape who was sitting at his desk studying his godson. He couldn't keep a straight face while he looked at him. Snape glared up at him when he saw Draco's expression.

"It is odd, to say the least, to speak with you while you are in Potter's body." He smirked again. "Where are the infamous Potter glasses?" He asked. Snape scowled; he had already been asked this an infinitesimal amount of times.

"I do not need them." He said shortly. Draco was going to question him further but stopped when he saw Snape's scowling expression.

"Severus." Draco said slowly. "There is a reason why you have been sent here. Do not waste it being your pessimistic self. Enjoy your time back here with us."

"Have you been hanging about with Gryffindors, Mr Malfoy? You are becoming as sentimental as they are." Draco huffed in annoyance.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't be wasting what precious time you have left." Draco soon changed the subject when Snape became crabbier and spouted on and on about Gryffindor sentimentality.

They talked about Draco's work, his wife, Scorpius and their expecting child. Astoria was at the end of her first trimester and not many people knew of this news. Draco suspected it would be a girl. Then they spoke of Severus' progress (which wasn't much). Draco commented on Potter's looks (which had changed since the last time he had seen a picture in a news paper article). The changes were very subtle; no glasses and straighter hair (though that could be accounted to the fact that Snape used different hair product; i.e. a bar of soap).

"I would very much like to speak with you again before you must leave. I've missed your company." Draco said sadly. Snape nodded sympathetically. His mood had changed with the presence of his godson; he was less foul and more himself. Draco told him that Ginny would drop by with his books and left.

McGonagall dropped by his office shortly after to tell him that Mrs Potter had stopped by with the books, realised he was still busy with his company and had left. She had told the Headmistress that she would be back early in the morning. Snape, with no other research to do, went to sleep early. Like all the other nights, he dreamed of his past.

_"Hello Severus." Said a familiar voice. Severus spun around to look at the person who had addressed him. There, in front of him was none other than James Potter._

_"YOU!" He spat out angrily. "What do you want? If you're here to send me to Hell then do it. I do not need your mockery. I've had enough ridicule to last me a life time."_

_"Severus." He said calmly. "I am not here to send you to Hell. Far from it, in fact. There are a lot of people who wish to speak with you. I was permitted to speak with you after Sirius." He paused. "I wanted to apologise to you for every undeserved thing that I-and the Marauders- have done to you." He looked ashamed. "I didn't know of the hard life you lived and I'm sure I didn't make it easier." Severus was speechless. "I also wanted to thank you for everything you've done for The Order and for Harry. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you." James looked regretful. "There is something you must know." James looked hesitant. There was a loud sound, like thunder. James laughed. "I suppose Lily wants to be the one to tell you."_

_"Lily." Severus breathed out her name. He would get to see her!_

_"There are a lot of things that have been kept from you and for good reasons. Some things… I wish weren't true." He had a sad look on his face._

_"I've had a lot of time here to get used to some things. It is still difficult for me sometimes. I was angry for a long time Severus." He said regretfully. To Severus, whatever he was blabbing on about didn't make any sense. He could feel the tension in the air and knew that whatever he had intended to say was important._

_"When do I get to see Lily?" He asked, trying not to sound too eager._

_"Soon." James said simply. "Albus wants to speak with you next, after that I do not know who speaks with you. But be assured that you will have plenty of time to speak with her." James' black hair started to blow in the wind. Wait, wind? The scene changed and they were standing on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch._

_"Oi, Prongs! We need a chaser, come on." A voice said from above. A broom appeared in James' hand. He smirked at Severus and took off into the air. Severus was sure he caught a glimpse of red hair before the scene changed again._

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	16. A Visit with Dumbledore

**Sorry it took so long to finally update again. Here's the next bit. Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

_Severus stumbled slightly as his vision was assaulted by bright red and gold colors. Severus looked at the room he was in and with a disgusted snort realized _everything_ in this room was red and gold. This room belonged to a Gryffindor. With a sinking feeling in his stomach he knew immediately who the room belonged to. He could feel the twinkling blue eyes stare at the back of his head. Severus slowly turned around and looked at his former Headmaster, and unlike his usual self, avoided eye contact. The man in question looked over at Severus kindly, but there was also a hint of sadness. Severus' breathing constricted as he looked into the face of the man he had killed. He was sure that if his heart were still beating it would have also stopped. He drew in a shuddering breath when the Headmaster took a step towards him. The Headmaster stopped and gave Severus a sad look. Severus tried to speak._

_"Al-" His throat constricted involuntarily. The Headmaster took his speechlessness as an opportunity to speak._

_"I am so very proud of you, Severus, my dear boy." Dumbledore said; his voice filled with emotion. Out of all the things he could have said, Severus was not expecting this. His black eyes, for the first time, looked directly into Dumbledore's. He found no trace of anger within those forgiving blue eyes._

_"Severus, you have done so much for the cause. You have done everything that I have asked of you, no matter how painful it was for you. I am so very proud of you." He paused as he put his hand on Severus's shoulder._

_"Albus." Severus' voice contained more emotion than it ever had before._

_"The things that I have done…" He paused as his mind was tortured by the numerous things he had done to muggles and muggleborns. He was ashamed of the things he had done to impress the Dark Lord. When he had returned to him as a double agent it had been emotionally painful to do as he was told. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore teaching him occlumency he wasn't sure he would have stayed sane for long. Severus' mind wandered to the only other time he had ever killed._

* * *

><p><em>Severus was only eighteen and had just graduated from Hogwarts the week before. Lucius had brought him to the Dark Lord to be initiated within his ranks. Lily had become engaged to James Potter and Severus had lost all hope of ever being with her. He felt alone and abandoned. Lucius and the other Death Eaters were his only friends now, the logical solution to his loneliness (and to also prove he was more powerful then Potter) was to pledge his allegiance to Lord Voldemort. To prove he would be a loyal follower he had to kill a muggleborn girl. It was no coincidence that they had chosen this specific girl. She looked about his age and looked remarkably like Lily. Though she was French, he knew this because when she pleaded for mercy she had a thick French accent. Her hair was the exact same shade as Lily's, but her eyes weren't the same green. Lily's was the color of grass at midday whilst this girl's eyes were a deep forest green. This was the only reason why he was able to kill her. Her life ended swiftly and painlessly. If it weren't for the bright green light that had come out of his wand, she probably wouldn't have even known that she would die in those last few seconds of her life.<em>

_Months after the murder he could not sleep more than a few hours without hearing her accented pleas or the cruel laughter of the Death Eaters. He was disgusted with himself, but he could not back out of the Dark Lords ranks or he would be killed. His death wouldn't be as painless as that girl's._

_He had also caused others deaths, albeit indirectly, with his potions. He had contemplated suicide a few times, but it was his bargain with the Headmaster to keep Lily's son safe that had kept him alive. Dumbledore had taught him Occlumency and it was finally this that allowed him to sleep peacefully at night (though a bottle of Dreamless Sleep was sometimes required), it is also what kept him sane._

* * *

><p><em>The Headmaster looked into Severus' eyes and stayed silent.<em>

_"I do not deserve your praise or your forgiveness."_

_"I have forgiven you a long time ago, Severus. You have showed me countless times that you are brave; braver then many Gryffindors." Severus scowled. "You have done so much for Harry, sometimes_ _even_ _putting aside your hatred for James Potter. I have asked myself many times if I was asking too much of you, but you have never wavered from my side. I am sorry for the life you have had to live, for such a short life you have accomplished so much. It is because of you and people like you and Harry that we have won the war. You could have changed your allegiance after my death, but you did not. You are a good man, Severus."_

_"Please." Severus pleaded, turning his head away from Albus' forgiving gaze._

_"I was- _am _selfish. I only did it for Lily… for myself." Severus and Albus stared at each other for several moments in silence. Then, finally,_

_"No, I don't believe you did. Maybe in part, but I also believe you did this because you _knew_ it was the right thing to do." Albus smiled warmly at Severus and sat down in the nearest chair. It was red and plush. Albus reached down for a tin box that hadn't been there before._

_"Lemon drop?" He said, and for once Severus took the offered treat. He put the sweet yellow candy into his mouth and realized, with some surprise, that it was delicious. He sat down next to Albus in a green chair that had materialized out of thin air. He closed his eyes and savoured the delicious taste. He wondered why he had been so adamant on not eating one when he was alive. The candy and peacefulness of being in Albus' company soothed his damaged and tired soul. It wasn't long before he fell asleep in the comfortable chair._

* * *

><p>Severus awoke, for the first time since being back, feeling at peace.<p>

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	17. Slytherin Devil

**Hey, here's the next update! Sorry it took so long, I haven't really had much time to write. I actually wrote the beginning of this chapter on five sticky notes at work when we weren't busy. This chapter is more of a filler. Our characters will start getting some answers by next chapter. Oh, and thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Snape POV

Severus worked even harder than he had before to find a way to help Potter get back to where he belonged. Severus didn't like the boy very much. Maybe it was due to the fact that he looked too much like his father, Severus' childhood tormentor. Nonetheless the boy deserved to live, especially after everything he had done for the wizarding community. Severus looked through the small pile of notes that he hadn't had time to go through yet. After an hour his hopes dwindled. After going through the whole pile and not finding anything relevant to his search, Severus sighed deeply and rubbed his throbbing temples. He got up from his seat, stretched his back (which cracked in a few places- Harry was getting old after all) and went for a walk through the castle's empty corridors.

* * *

><p>Albus POV<p>

"Mum, pleeeaaseeee. I want to come with you. I promise I'll be good." I pleaded desperately to my mother. She was going to Hogwarts to give da- Snape the books that Mr. Malfoy had given us.

"Al, I said no." Mum said, sounding annoyed. This only fuelled my wanting to go to Hogwarts and see Snape again.

"But, why?" I whined.

"Because I said so." I absolutely despise that sentence.

"Please mum." I heard James say from next to me. Ha! Two against one, this could work.

"Boys." Mum said in a warning tone.

"Please." James and I said at the exact same time.

"Fine." She finally, begrudgingly relented.

"Yes!" James and I exclaimed victoriously, giving high fives.

"But mum, you said we could go to gramma's." Lily whined. I glared at her. She was going to ruin mine and James' victory.

"You can floo to nana's and _yes boys_", she turned and gave us a pointed look, "you can come with me."

* * *

><p>Severus walked through the castle, his robes billowing behind him. He was filled with a sense of nostalgia and closed his eyes as he breathed in the scent of the old castle. His time at Hogwarts hadn't always been pleasant but it had been his home for more than half his life.<p>

Severus walked past the great hall and up the moving stone staircases. He looked at the portraits, which chatted and sometimes pointed at him as he walked by. He realised that some of the portraits were missing and idly wondered what had happened to them. Severus turned left onto the third floor. But before he could walk away he heard an eerily familiar voice speak to him. He stopped walking and halted in mid step. Severus spun around, only to be faced with himself. Well, a portrait of himself.

"Mr. Potter. Here again? Have you come to ridicule me once more?" The portrait sneered at him. Severus was struck dumb. Why was there a portrait of him at Hogwarts? Yes, he had been Headmaster for a short period of time, but he had abandoned his post. There shouldn't be a portrait of him here.

"Kneazle got your tongue, Potter? Contrary to popular belief I cannot read minds." The portrait taunted him and sneered at him yet again. Is that how he really sounded? Merlin, he _was_ a git.

"I…" He cleared his throat. "You see…" A slight pause. "Why in the name of Merlin is there of portrait of m- you here?" Severus was about to continue his rambling, when he caught sight of bright maroon and gold robes. Minerva McGonagall stood, staring at the Potions Master with a slightly amused look upon her face.

"Surprised, I see. You did not expect this, did you, Severus?"

"No, of course not. I abandoned my post. I do not deserve to have a portrait of myself at Hogwarts. What fool decided I was worthy of such a thing?"

McGonagall smiled softly at him. Severus couldn't help noticing that her eyes freaking twinkled.

"Mr. Potter did. He thought, after everything you had sacrificed for the cause that you deserved to have a portrait of yourself hung along with all the other Headmasters of this school." Severus couldn't believe this. Of course, the stupid Gryffindor would do such a sentimental thing.

Minerva studied her old colleague. The poor man had never had a break in his life… and even in death he wasn't at peace. Unlike the way Harry held himself (relaxed but alert), Severus stood straight, tension vibrating off him, muscles flexed and hand hovering over the pocket in which he kept his wand. It seemed, even as Harry, he wouldn't allow himself to relax. After a few moments of silence it seemed that the portrait had gotten bored of their limited interaction and stalked off to another portrait across the hall. Severus cleared his throat after a moment and glared at the Headmistress.

"Is there a reason why you are still here?" He sneered at her. He hadn't meant to sound so rude but this new revelation had unsettled and surprised him. Severus Snape did not take well to surprises.

"Yes, actually. There is a certain young woman waiting to speak with you." Minerva said, not in the least intimidated by his less then polite remark. Severus gave her a puzzled look.

"Mrs. Potter and her two young boys are eager to speak with you." Severus stifled a groan.

"They are waiting in my office. Come along now." She said, gesturing towards the corridor. Severus stared at her in disbelief. She was telling him what to do! Minerva smiled mischievously at him and flicked her wand. Severus felt a slight push on his back and stumbled forward. Minerva started walking off towards her office. Severus paused and felt another light shove. He groaned and then followed her along the way. Severus, right before entering her office, had concluded that he was becoming soft.

* * *

><p>Snape POV<p>

The door opened and Dad, I mean Snape, walked in McGonagall's office. He was frowning as usual except he had a glimmer in his eyes, like the kind dad would get before he started laughing. Mum smiled at him and went to walk towards him before she stopped herself and waited for him to get there.

"Mrs. Potter." He drawled and bent his head down in acknowledgement.

"Brats." He said to us and made the same head gesture. My mouth dropped in shock. McGonagall gave him a stern look and mum glared at him. Then the most shocking thing happened, he smiled at us! Well, it was more of a smirk, but still!

"You have books for me?" He asked, almost eagerly.

"Er- yes." Mum said, shoving the books into his hands, a few of them toppling over.

"Oh!" Mum cried and bent down to get the books.

"Sorry professor." She said, looking at him nervously.

"It is no matter, Mrs. Potter." He said, smirking again.

"I don't remember you being this uncoordinated when you were a student." He remarked. Mum rolled her eyes and stepped away from him. She put her hands on both mine and James' shoulders.

"Well, if that's all, I have a lot of research to do." He said and turned on his heel.

"Wait, sir." Mum cried out. "You're a bloody git and have absolutely no concept of politeness, but… thank you for everything you're doing. It would mean a lot to my husband to know that you are doing this for him and it means a lot to me."

"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment." He said in a monotone voice. Mum chuckled.

"It's neither. I'm grateful for what you're doing." She paused. "And please, call me Ginny." Snape gave a great sigh and reluctantly said:

"You may call me Severus if you so please." Mum smiled brightly at him. I took in a deep breath, trying to gather my courage to ask what I had wanted to ask Snape.

"Can I help you? With your research I mean." I blurted out. Mum and Snape looked at me in surprise. When nobody said anything I continued.

"Wouldn't it go faster if you had some help? I won't be a bother and I am a good worker and-"

"You do not know what I am looking for." Snape said sternly, cutting me off.

"But you could just tell me." Snape sighed.

"Severus, it wouldn't hurt." McGonagall said.

"And you can also go through those notes after he has." Mum added. I nodded eagerly. I turned to Snape and smiled at him eagerly. He gave me a funny look for a few moments, shook his head as if to clear it and then nodded mutely. He blinked, cleared his throat and said with teeth clenched: "Fine. Meet me in my office tomorrow. 7 am sharp, do not be late." He turned on his heel, robes billowing and exited the office.

* * *

><p>Snape POV<p>

Severus felt as though he had just sold his soul to the devil. A very small, Slytherin devil. Albus Severus reminded him an awful lot of himself at that age. It had only been because of that small reminder that he had agreed to let the little brat "help" him. He sighed and reluctantly got back to his research, his eyes and back already starting to protest.

The first book he went through was the oldest one. It was still slightly dusty and had finger marks over the cover. The book was small and also had small writing. He squinted to see the letters. Before he knew it the sun had set and his chambers were being illuminated by moon light. He shut the small book with a sigh and stood up. His back cracked in a few places. He cast a spell that showed him the time; 11:57 pm. He hadn't eaten lunch or dinner. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty hungry. He made his way to the kitchens where the house elves prepared a small meal for him. He ate his sandwich as he walked through the halls. As he walked back to his chambers he thought he caught a few glimpses of an angry man in a black cape roaming through the portraits. When he got back to his rooms and finally closed his eyes, he dreamt of a small dark haired boy with green eyes.

**Please review and let me know what you think! More feedback equals faster update time. I already have most of the chapter written on more sticky notes ;) I just need to type it. I'm going camping for a few days so the next update might not be until next week.**


	18. The Beach

**So, I am finally able to publish this chapter! I couldn't find a way to retrieve the previous file, so it's not exactly how I had originally written it because I couldn't remember it word for word. I hope you like this chapter and please review!**

**I've switched the POV to Harry's so that you know what is going on with him****. Here it is!**

_33 years earlier_

"One day," I say to my only friend, the spider in my closet named Louis, "my parents are going to save me from this place. You'll see. And I promise I'll take you with me." Louis continues to spin his web. I wish I was spider, lazing around in a dusty cupboard corner. "Aunt Petunia makes me clean and do supper. I don't like doing all those things for them. I don't understand why they don't make Dudley do all those things" I say to Louis.

"Boy, get over here." Aunt Petunia is yelling for me. She probably wants me to do the dishes. Last time I had cut myself on the bread knife. There was blood everywhere. Aunt Petunia yelled at me for getting her floor all dirty.

"See you Louis." I tell my friend. I like him. He listens to me.

"Coming Aunt Petunia." I say, coming out of my cupboard. As I had thought, she made me do the dishes. I was extra careful to not cut myself again. She yelled at me for being too slow, but that was okay. I didn't bleed on her floor again. I went back to my cupboard to talk to Louis again, when Uncle Vernon and my fat cousin Dudley clambered into the house. I swear the floor shook whenever they moved. Dudley sneered at me and I knew that look on his face. I ducked inside my cupboard and closed the door. I sat on my mattress, waiting for him to come. The door flew open and his fat head appeared. For an eight year old, he was quite large and also quite intimidating.

"What do you want Dudley?" Dudley smiled down at me and then his huge fist went towards my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing all too well that this would hurt. To my surprise there was a girly shriek, coming from right in front of me. I opened my eyes. Louis was hanging in front of Dudley.

"Mummy!" He yelled outraged.

"Get this wretched thing out of here!" My eyes widened.

"No! He's my friend. Don't touch him!" I yelled. Aunt Petunia appeared behind Dudley and scowled. She disappeared for a second and then reappeared with a fly swatter.

"Ugly creatures, they are." She muttered. I grabbed Louis into my hands.

"No!" I told them fiercely.

"Let go of that spider boy." Aunt Petunia yelled. I scooted into the corner of the room, cradling Louis in my hands. Aunt Petunia made a grab for Louis, but she wasn't fast enough. She huffed and left the entrance to the cupboard. So did Dudley. I set Louis back down and he returned to his webbing. I smiled at him and started talking to him, like I did every day. He's my best friend.

I fell asleep fully clothed on top of my covers. I awoke to a creaking noise. I stared into Aunt Petunia's face.

"There." She said, satisfied and gave me a smug look. I was confused, until I saw her scooping up Louis' crippled body. Tears leaked out of my eyes. I couldn't even speak. Aunt Petunia killed my best friend. That night I prayed that my parents would rescue me from that horrid place. But they never came. I was still alone. I would always be alone. Louis was dead.

I awoke with a groan, the memory already fading. I gingerly opened my eyes and immediately snapped them shut because of the bright light that blinded me. Slowly I opened them again and let my eyes adjust. Finally, the scenery in front of me came into focus. I was sitting on the sand at a familiar beach. I looked around to see if there was anyone around. The beach was completely devoid of anyone else. I was alone. I racked my brain, trying to remember how I could have gotten here. The last thing I remember was being in the hospital bed and feeling pain in my chest and then nothing. Did I accidentally apparate here? No. I wasn't even thinking of sandy beaches when I was at the hospital. I slowly stood up and looked at the surrounding area. The realisation hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew this beach. My family and I used to come here during hot summer days. This is where James said his first word; "dad". This is where Al and Lily learnt how to swim.

Something in the distance caught my eye. A white blob was making its way toward me. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to see what it was. It was a person, but that was all I could tell.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice echoing strangely around me. There was no answer. As the figure made its way towards me I realised it was a woman. She had a flowing white dress that blew in the breeze and vibrant red hair. I thought at first it was Ginny, but no, Ginny's hair was a darker red and she was taller. I realised with a jolt who this person was.

"Mum…" I whispered in disbelief.

"Harry." She said softly, a sad smile gracing her lips.

"Am I dead?" I asked; my stomach dropped at the possibility. I felt like being sick.

"No. It isn't your time yet." She said. Her green eyes, the same color as mine, searched my face.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" She smiled that sad smile again.

"You are in between dimensions. The scene in front of us is only a figment of your imagination. This place is where you hold some of your happiest memories. It's your conscience's way of coping with what has happened to you. You're neither dead nor alive." She paused, like she knew I needed time to digest this. I opened my mouth to question her again, but she cut me off.

"The reason you are here is unknown, what is happening to you has rarely ever happened before. What we suspect is that the part of your father's spirit that still lingered on Earth has entered your body, causing you to switch places."

"Hang on. My father's spirit is in my body!? How could this have happened? Why was there a part of his spirit still lingering on Earth anyway?"

"One question at a time Harry. I know this is hard to digest. I'm sorry that this has happened to you... It seems that trouble always finds you." This time she grins at me. I roll my eyes.

"We found out not too long ago that part of your father's spirit lingered at Hogwarts. That's why his portrait could move material objects." I didn't know my father had a portrait at Hogwarts. Surely someone would have told me. I open my mouth but she puts her hand up to stop me.

"Yes, I know James didn't have a portrait at Hogwarts, Harry." Oh Merlin, she's talking about Snape!

"Snape is in my body!?" She nods. How could she call him my father?!

"Let me finish Harry." She said in a warning tone.

"When you were hexed with the unknown spell by that Death Eater, your body went into shock. It was weak and you almost died. You were technically dead for 7 seconds. That was enough time for your-" She paused when I glared at her. "-Severus' spirit to enter your body. The other part of him, the part that was here had no idea about what was happening to you. He disappeared and your spirit, having no other place to go, appeared here." It was a challenge to keep my mouth shut through her explanation. Her pause permitted me to tell her exactly what I thought about this.

"Why do these things always happen to me?" I said, pulling at my hair.

"This is your fault!" I said, pointing at her. How could she have kept all these damn secrets and lies about something as important as my father's paternity?

"If it hadn't been for you and your stupid lies none of this would have happened! I was perfectly fine living my life thinking that James was my father! And how dare you call that greasy git my father?! James was my father! Not him. James died for you, for _me_! He forgave you and gave up everything to raise another man's child, his enemy's child! How could you have even _touched_ that disgusting bat? Your bed was barely cold before you jumped into another man's bed. How could you!?" I yelled, angrily. My heart pounded in my chest and I was panting. I thought I had accepted this, but seeing my mum and hearing her call Snape my father had snapped something inside of me. She didn't look shocked at all by my outburst.

"Oh, Harry..." She said sadly as she stroked her thumb against my cheek. All the pent up emotions came bubbling out to the surface and tears started spilling down my cheeks.

"I don't understand mum... Why him?"

"He was there when I needed him. He had been there for me even before James was. When our friendship ended I was devastated, but then James was there and I fell in love with him." She paused and gave me that sad look again.

"I always knew Severus had feelings for me and I thought that since I couldn't have James anymore, at least I could have him. I know that that's a horrible way to think, but my grief stricken mind was all jumbled with emotions and I needed someone to be there for me. I love him Harry, both of them. They both meant a lot to me. And I know you're not ready to hear me call Severus your father, maybe you never will."

"Biologically he may be my father, but James was my father in every way that counts. Snape was a cruel and unjust man." At her look of protest I pressed on. "Yes, he did a lot for the cause and gave up his life for it, but he was nonetheless cruel. If he had known the truth maybe things would have turned out differently."

"Maybe Harry. But it was best he didn't know. If Voldemort would have found out the truth, he would have killed both of you. Severus was essential for winning the war and later on so were you."

"I know." I whispered. It didn't mean I liked hearing the truth. I sighed, took a deep breath to calm myself down and then asked:

"How do we reverse this then?"

"I don't know Harry. Severus is the only one who can fix this."

"What if he doesn't want to come back?" She smiled this time, her eyes filled with a knowing look.

"He'll come back, Harry. He always does." She said knowingly. I sat down on the sand and looked up at her as she looked off into the sunset. We sat there in silence for what felt like hours.

"Harry." She said softly, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" I said, slowly tilting my head upwards so I could see her.

"James would like a word with you. Will you come with me?" She held her hand out to me. My heart sped up with anticipation and a little bit of fear. What would he think of me now? But he had always known the truth and he had never treated me badly. Maybe it was my reaction to him, now that I knew, that scared me. I took my mum's hand. She smiled warmly at me. She waved her hand and the scene in front of us seemed to shimmer, like light reflecting off of water. The water-like scene rippled as she put one foot through. I looked at her in apprehension. She smiled and said:

"It's alright, Harry. It feels almost like apparition." I followed her through the water and felt the familiar tug at my navel, and then everything went black.

**Thanks for reading and sticking around even though my updates are inconsistent. Please review!**


	19. The Afterlife

**Okay, again I am sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I hit a mind block for this story and didn't know what to write. Finally, I felt the urge to write again today so here is the next chapter. I hope to finish this story in about 5 more chapters. I'd love it if you reviewed and gave me your opinion about what you think about this story.**

**Again, this is in Harry's POV.**

It felt almost like being sucked through a tunnel. Everything around me was as dark as night. Finally, after what felt like hours but were only seconds, the sucking feeling stopped and the world around me materialised. The sight in front of me was very familiar and I was overcome with a sense of nostalgia. We were standing in on one of the rafters (on the Gryffindor side) of the Quidditch pitch. There were two teams playing on the field. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw by the looks of the Quidditch gear.

"Sit down, boy." A voice hissed from behind me. I whipped my body around to stare in shock at Mad Eye Moody. I gaped at him, mouth wide open. Moody stood up, put both hands on my shoulders and pushed me into a sitting position. I could hear my mum snickering next to me. I turned my head around to peer at Moody. He looked the same but different somehow. Moody had two legs, two eyes and no chunk missing from his nose. He looked much better like this. The grumpy man caught my eye and gave me a small smile before returning his attention to the pitch.

"Oi, Harry!" A familiar voice yelled out. A few rows down I saw none other than Fred Weasley.

"Fred!" I yelled out, my voice filled with wonder. I couldn't help the smile that was forming on my face. It was so good to see him. I could feel my eyes sting as I looked at the youthful, younger looking version of George. I got up and sprinted down to where Fred stood.

"It's good to see you Fred. How've you been?" I asked, wrapping my arms around him in a half hug and patting his back.

"I've been great, Harry. Have you seen all the lovely ladies around here? Your mum is quite a looker too."

"Fred!" I yelled out in shock, but couldn't help the laugh that came out of my mouth.

"I'm just fooling around with you Harry." Fred said. Then his face turned serious as he gave me a contemplative look.

"It's peaceful here." He said, returning his attention back to my original question. "I miss George but time here is different. What could be eighty years down there feels like eight years up here. We have Quidditch matches every week, there are no rules here and pranking alongside the Marauders is like a dream come true." Fred grinned. There was a loud cheer. Both Fred and I looked at the pitch.

"Gryffindor wins again." Fred said grinning.

"Ah, it looks like your old man is making his way up here. I reckon there are some things you need to talk about. Hey, Harry, could you tell George that I'm happy here? He needs to let me go. It's killing him and I want him to have a happy life."

"Of course Fred." I gave him one last hug and shook his hand. Fred whistled at a girl wearing Ravenclaw gear, winked at me and made his way towards the girl.

"See ya, Harry." He said over his shoulder and then chased after the girl who was now glaring at Fred.

"James." My mum's voice said from above. I looked behind me to see my mum grinning down at my dad. He gave her an equally large grin. She said something to him that I didn't catch and dad looked down at me and grinned.

"Harry." He said and I got up to hug him.

"Dad." I said, getting choked up.

"Let me get a good look at you." He said, holding me at arm's length.

"Handsome as ever I must say."

"Oh, James." Mum said, rolling her eyes.

"You're only saying that because he looks like you, prat." A familiar voice said from behind James. My heart leapt as I saw the familiar face of my Godfather.

"Sirius!" I said, hugging him.

"Harry." He said my name affectionately.

"So, the Great Old Bat has switched places with you, huh? Personally I agree with James, I do prefer staring at your mug then the Greasy Git's."

"Sirius." Mum said in a warning tone. He just rolled his eyes. He tugged my arm and pulled me to the side, out of mum and dad's ear shot.

"How are you, really Harry?"

"I don't really know, to be honest." I looked back at my dad who was laughing at something my mum said.

"You don't need to worry about him, Harry. He knows and he understands. At first he took it real hard to find out that the woman he loved was having someone else's baby. Don't look at me like that, Harry." He said as my face fell. "James always wanted you. The only thing he regrets is that he isn't the real dad to the most wonderful boy in the world. You've grown up to be an exceptional man and we're all proud of you."

"But Sirius... he is my dad... in every way that counts. Blood doesn't matter, not really. I don't even look like Snape."

"You could, you know. If you wanted to, that is."

"I could what?"

"Look like Snape. All it takes is a spell and bam! Harry Potter is replaced by Harry Snape." Sirius and I both made the same face at the same time.

"Ugh, no thanks. Anyway even if I wanted to look like I was supposed to I would never go by Harry Snape. Those names put together are wrong on so many levels." Sirius laughed.

"True. But aren't you a little curious?" I stared at Sirius wonderingly.

"Why are you encouraging this? I thought you'd be disgusted and would avoid the subject altogether."

"The afterlife changes people Harry. Look, there are some things you should know about the relationships between your mum and dad...s." Sirius said, adding the s to dad as an afterthought.

"The rivalry we had back on Earth is meaningless here. We actually get along. Severus can be a pain in the arse but he is a descent enough bloke. He went through a lot more in life then I knew. I... regret the way we treated him in school."

"But he was Death Eater, he killed innocent people." As though my mum and dad had been there the whole time, mum answered my accusation. I jumped at the sound of her voice right next to my ear.

"Yes, he did. We may have forgiven him for his crimes but it will never be forgotten. I feel partly responsible for the path he chose. I knew he was in love with me and I think when I ended our friendship I had pushed him right in the enemies waiting arms. But he did a lot of good for our side of the war Harry. He kept you alive and he died for the cause. He's a good man, he always was. He just made the wrong decisions." Mum was on the verge of tears.

"We've forgiven him Harry and have made our peace. Can you do that?" Dad asked me.

"I don't know." I whispered to him. It was all so much to take in.

"He's almost got it figured out." Another familiar voice interrupted the somber looking group. "Oh, hello Harry."

"Remus. It's so good to see you! How are you? Where's Tonks?"

"It's good to see you too, Harry and I'm great. No "furry little problem" to bother me up here. Tonks is down at the pitch. She was refereeing the game. We'd both like to thank you Harry for your part in raising Teddy. He's become a great man."

"Yes, he has. He wants to be an auror like his mum."

"That's wonderful. Dora will be happy to hear it."

"What's "almost figured out", Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Oh yes." Remus said with a smile.

"Severus has found the solution. It is only a matter of days before things are right again. That means, Harry, that in a few hours, you will be home with your family again."

I felt a bittersweet joy at the prospect of leaving here to go back home.

"That's wonderful news." Mum said with a huge smile on her face. Dad looked almost sad and Sirius looked contemplative.

"Dad?" I asked him.

"It's nothing Harry. It's great that you'll be back with your family." But even as he said this I knew there was something that was bothering him that he wasn't telling me.

"But?" I questioned. Mum's smile slid off her face as she looked at dad. Sirius looked at Remus and they gave each other subtle nods.

"Harry, it was great seeing you. I hope that it will be a long time before I see you again." Sirius said and I laughed.

"Likewise." We hugged each other good-bye.

"Take care of my boy, Harry. I'll miss you." Remus shook my hand and I pulled him to me for a hug.

"Tell Tonks I said hi."

"I will Harry. Good-bye." And in the blink of an eye Moony and Padfoot disappeared. When I looked back at my parents they were in a heated discussion. I cleared my throat and they fell silent immediately.

"What's going on?" I asked accusingly. They looked at each other, dad angrily and mum nervously. What could they possibly be hiding from me?

**Hmm... What's going on here? Can anyone guess? Please review! I can't make any guarantees about the next time I will update but hopefully it will be soon!**

**Author's note/ spoiler (ish):**

**On a side note I'd also like to say that Harry doesn't hate Snape. He's just confused and all his old resentments are resurfacing. He's lived over 30 years believing that one man (a great man) was his father. And Snape was a good man, but he made some bad choices in life and Harry is angry at him for that. This story, in a way, is about Harry realizing that Snape is human and has made mistakes. He'll eventually forgive Snape and come to accept him as his father.**


	20. James' Forgiveness

**So since I made you guys wait so long between updates, I thought that I would write another one as a 'thank you' for sticking around with me.**

**This chapter is in Harry's POV again. This is the second last chapter that will be in Harry's POV. Next chapter will be centered around Severus and Albus finding a way to reverse Snape and Harry's soul switch. I just needed to write this chapter before continuing, to give Harry the closure he needs from his father (James).**

**Warning: Swear words. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything HP related.**

"Let me talk to him Lily. Alone." Mum looked at dad apprehensively.

"James, I really don't think-"

"You owe me." He said in an angry, stern tone. She backed off immediately.

"Okay James." She said softly before she disappeared right in front of me.

"Don't worry, she'll be back." He said with a smile, though his tone sounded sad.

"What's going on dad?" I asked. I had a horrible feeling in my gut. Dad sighed loudly and looked at me in the eyes.

"I heard your conversation with Padfoot." He started off slowly. "He's right, that our childhood grievances don't matter up here. Severus has forgiven us for the things we did to him in school and in return I have come to... accept the fact that he is your biological father. But I will never forgive him for sleeping with a married woman; my Lily."

I felt sad for James. If that had ever happened with Ginny I would have been devastated and would have probably killed the other man. But on the other hand, for the first time since I found out that Snape was my biological father I felt defensive towards him. Mum had been the one to initiate what happened between them, he wasn't the only one to blame... Although, it still disgusts me to think about the actions that led to my conception. I didn't say anything and we were silent for a few moments.

"How did you do it?" I asked and James looked at me in puzzlement.

"I mean... How could you have returned to mum knowing that she was pregnant with another man's child?" Dad stared at me and was silent again.

"I loved your mother Harry, very much. Those months that I was away were horrible for me. A part of me never wanted to see Lily again but another part of me wanted to hold her in my arms and never let go. The final factor in my decision to go back was the thought of leaving Lily alone while she was pregnant during a time of war. Especially because she was Muggleborn. And then when you were born... Harry I wanted to hate you so much but it was impossible. You were such a sweet baby and the first time I held you in my arms and you opened your eyes that were exactly like your mother's and I knew that I loved you like a father would their own son." Dad had to look away. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

"I used to think that all baby's look the same when they're newborn, but they don't." I nodded my head in agreement. "I'm afraid to say that you looked like Snape, other than the eyes and nose, thank Merlin." He half laughed-half sobbed.

"It wouldn't have mattered to me if you had grown up looking like him; you were mine from the moment I held you." I was shocked by this proclamation. James Potter was a really great man. I envied him for his forgiveness. If he could forgive Snape then maybe, one day, I could too. James continued his one-sided speech and I stared at him in admiration.

"I was jealous of him for the longest time because he was your real father. Since he joined us up here we've had a few conversations. Once he found out he was your father he was actually jealous of me!" He snorted. "I, at least got 15 months with you Harry, raising you as my own. Severus may have been in your life for six years but you hated each other." He paused to consider his next words. "He regretted being so cruel to you, Harry." I was shocked that Snape would confess this to James, of all people.

"I feel selfish in saying this, but... I got back at him for sleeping with my wife in the best way possible, by raising his only son." I stared at him in shock and then burst out laughing. I don't why I was laughing but it felt good. After a few moments Dad joined me. We understood each other in that moment and I felt so proud that I got him as my father, if only for a little while.

"That's horrible." I said between gasps and Dad laughed even harder.

"You know what's even better? The Potter name will carry on but Snape's won't." He laughed even harder. But I couldn't laugh at this. I don't or have ever wanted my last name to be Snape but I still regretted the fact that though he has a son and grand-children, no one will ever know because we are living under another man's name. James sobered up once he realised I had stopped laughing.

"And you know what the bastard does after not even being here for a year?" He whispered bitterly, carrying on as though we hadn't just stopped laughing. I shook my head.

"He stole my wife away from me again. And there is no way I can ever get her back because she is in love with him." I was shocked into silence.

"W-what?" I finally stuttered out.

"And I can't even hate the son-of-a-bitch because he told me he'd back away from her. But I could see that she loved him and I couldn't keep her away from the person she loved. She would have been miserable. She _was_ miserable all those years we were here without _him_. At least she was mine, if only for a little while." He said wistfully. I simply couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that my mum was with Snape.

"Close your mouth, Harry. You'll attract the flies." He said laughing sadly.

"Snape and mum?!" I finally managed to choke out.

"Is it really all that hard to believe, Harry? He _is_ your father."

"Yeah, but... _Snape?" _My mouth and my mind didn't seem to want to cooperate. James laughed at me and I glared at him. How could he talk about this so easily?

"It's okay Harry. It took me awhile to get over the shock too." He said with another sad expression on his face.

"I'm sorry." I blurted out. "This is hard for me to accept. I can't even imagine how you feel about this."

"It took a lot of time to get over the hurt I felt. It's still there but it's bearable now. And anyway, the Marauders are back together again and Severus is a good guinea pig for our... tricks." He grinned. "And he doesn't mind it so much anymore." Dad shrugged.

"Only because Lily is there to kiss him better!" I heard a shout from below. There was Sirius, grinning at us as he flew on his broom. Both Dad and I had the same disgusted expressions.

"Thanks for the imagery Paddy! Would you like me to remind you of the time you saw Marlene McKinnon snogging Malfoy in first year?!" I could see Sirius shudder.

"You shagged her in sixth year after old Sluggy's party and she had probably shagged Malfoy before! That's like shagging Malfoy!" Sirius looked like he was going to be sick.

"Shut up Prongs!" He yelled out in a strained voice.

For the first time since this whole fiasco began I felt as though things would be okay again.

I watched in amusement as Sirius chased James (who was now on a broom) around the Quidditch pitch as they taunted each other.

**What did you think? Please review!**


	21. RAB

**Wow, so it's been a ****_very_**** long while. I am so very sorry it has taken this long to write again. I had lost the inspiration for this story, but now I have some new, fresh ideas. So I've gone through the whole story again and changed and corrected/rearranged a few things, though nothing big. **

**Here's what has happened so far:**

**-Albus Severus Potter found a diary in Aunt Petunia's attic that belonged to his grand-mother; Lily. He discovers that his biological grand-father is not James Potter, but Severus Snape.**

**-Albus tells Harry and Harry is shocked and goes to the Shrieking Shack to clear his mind.**

**-In the middle of the night the kids go to Hogwarts to speak to Snape's portrait**

**-Harry and Ginny can't find the kids and go on a hunt to find them.**

**-They enter a Death Eater apartment and Harry gets hit by a spell**

**-Harry is cleared of any side effects from the spell and he goes to Hogwarts with Ginny where they find James is unconscious because a portrait fell on him because portrait Snape got angry. Snape lost his temper because he thought the children were mocking him by declaring they were his grand-children.**

**-Soon after, Harry has a heart attack.**

**-Snape is in Harry's body and he, with the help of Albus, search for a way to reverse what has happened.**

**-Harry wakes up on a beach and speaks to his mother.**

**-He also speaks to Sirius, Fred, Remus and James.**

**-James tells Harry that things with Snape in the afterlife are peaceful and that he has been at peace in the afterlife. **

**-Harry also finds out that his mom and Snape are together in the afterlife and that he only has a matter of hours before he returns to his real life.**

**Now on with the story:**

Severus POV

It had been a long three days of searching through my journals with the help of Al. He insisted on being called Al and did not like being called Albus because he felt like he was being scolded. Reluctantly, I have come to learn many things from this self-assured thirteen year old. I have learnt that he enjoys reading, almost as much as his Aunt Hermione, he is very thorough when doing research, his favourite color is red (I blame it on the influence of all the Gryffindors that surround him) and is allergic to dust like I am. Al is also terribly embarrassed of his cracking voice and the first time that it had happened to him he thought that there was something terribly wrong with him and that he would lose his voice permanently. I think I have laughed more in the presence of Al then I have ever laughed my entire laugh. He is a smart and ingenious boy and it would have been my pleasure to have taught him if I were still alive.

Whenever I close my eyes now I keep having odd dreams; they never repeat each other and it is as though they are a continuation of a long story. I have been suspecting that these are not merely dreams but memories of my afterlife. My most recent dream has been the most shocking yet.

Regulus Black had come to speak to me after my meeting with Albus. He had explained to me that after being part of one of the most brutal revels he had become disgusted with himself for joining Voldemort. He had become withdrawn and was only at the gatherings physically. What had pushed Regulus to the edge was the mistreatment of his house elf, Kreacher. Kreacher had come back, almost dead, after being the test subject for the defenses of one of Voldermort's horcruxes. Regulus had begun to plan a way to take revenge upon Voldemort. He had made a duplicate of the locket and placed a note within it. He had then ordered Kreacher to take him to where the horcrux was hidden. Once at the basin containing the potion, Regulus had ordered Kreacher to take the locket and replace it with the fake one. When the potion had been drunk Kreacher was to leave him and find a way to destroy the locket. Regulus, after drinking the potion, was delusional and in agony. I felt guilty because I had been the one to brew that potion for the Dark Lord. Regulus, thirsty, had gone to the lake to drink and had been dragged down by the inferi. Regulus had drowned and his body had been trapped in that lake as an inferi. That was, until Dumbledore and Harry had gone to the cave and set it all on fire. Regulus' body had been burnt and he had finally been set free.

For a very long time I had stared at him in horror. He had only been a boy when he died and I felt even more disgusted that I could have ever joined ranks with a monster that had ruined so many young lives. Regulus had then surprised me with a smile and told me reassuringly that he didn't remember his time as an inferi and that he was glad he could have done a little something to help bring Voldemort down.

"Because of my acts in helping bring him down and because I was so young when I joined his cause, I have been pardoned and allowed to live here." He had gestured around what looked like a green living room.

"This is the only place within this realm that I can go, but the rooms are limitless and I can have visitors. I'm glad. I was so worried I would end up in Hell with all the other Death Eaters."

"Why aren't you allowed to leave?" I asked dumbly, worrying the same fate would fall upon me. Would I never be able to see Lily again? Regulus' face had dropped.

"I helped with your cause Severus, but I was never on your side. I still believe in pureblood supremacy; it was the way I was raised." He shrugged. "By I did not agree with Voldemort's ways. The reason I am not in Hell is because I was so young when I joined the Death Eaters but I did commit some heinous crimes. I am confined to this house because I helped your side, but I wanted Voldemort defeated for my own reasons and not anyone else's. It's not such a bad existence, you know, sometimes Sirius even comes to visit."

Before I could question him more (are we meeting because you are telling me the same fate will fall upon me? Will I be alone in a house for the rest of my existence?) I awoke.

A knock sounded on my door and I put the small book Draco had given me on my coffee table.

"Enter." I said, as I began making a pot of tea. Al came in with an excited look on his face.

"Severus, I think I found the solution." Al said as he pointed to a page within one of Draco's books. I put the pot of tea down unto the table and walked as normally as I could to him. I grabbed the book (_Illegal Spells of the 13__th__ Century)_ from his hands and quickly read the entry.

_Corpus Conmutatis_

_This spell is a Noir Spell. It is rareli used because of its strange side effects. The effects are said to range from a number of different outcomes:_

_Death is the moste evident outcome and the moste likeli._

_Being able to see earthbound and non earthbound spirits is also a very common and benefishal side effect. N.B. If you try this spell on your own person the only known outcome is death. Do not try this spell thinking you will be able to speak to a dead compatriot to gain information from them. You will die._

_The last and moste rare of outcomes is to switch bodies with a dead relative. This occurrence has only happened twice and in both instances the switch occurred between the one that was hit with the spell and the moste recently deceased, biological relative. The first case in which this had occurred resulted in the later death of the one hit by the spell. The second resulted in the dead one returning to the spirit world and the live man to return to his body. It is unknown how this was accomplished._

_This spell has been considered illegal since May 2 1202, according to The Restriction of Darke Spells and Potions Acte of 1202._

_Sources_

_The Unfortunate Death of Ellis Bigsly, the First Man to Die from Being Hit by An Experimental Spell, Witch Press, 1082_

_I Can See the Dead: Accounts by Men Who Claim They Could See the Dead After Being Hit by an Experimental Spell, Wizard Weekly, 1098_

_Body Switch Spell Results in Death, Transfiguration Weekly, 1156_

_Happy Ending for All; Body Switch with a Dead Man and Adventures in the Spirit World, Transfiguration Weekly, 1192_

_Rise in Death due to Attempts to Recreate the Body Switching Spell, The Daily Prophet, 1201_

_The Restriction of Darke Spells and Potions Acte has been Inacted, The Daily Prophet, 1202_

I reread the article twice. Everything about the spell fit with this situation except for the part about being biologically related. I told this to Al.

"Um, actually you are related." Al said with a guilty look.

"What, how?" I asked, incredulous.

"I'm gonna start looking in the archives for _Happy Ending for All_. You should read the book I gave you. Grand-ma's diary? It should answer your question. Um, I'll see you later." He left Draco's book behind.

A million thoughts are running through my mind. Harry and I are related? How? Oh God, could I be related to Lily through Tobias? Hopefully, a distant cousin. If not, that would be disgusting; we had sex! Oh God, we had sex. My mind started spinning and I frantically looked for Lily's book. Where could it have gone? I left it right there. No, right there. There were books everywhere, it would take me all night to find Lily's diary. I sat in my chair and breathed. Think, where did you put it? The answer quickly came to me: desk; left front corner. I looked up and walked to my desk but the diary was not there. It must have fallen. I looked underneath the desk. There it was. I picked the diary up gingerly and looked at her name on the cover; Lily. I stared at her handwriting for a few moments before opening the diary.

The pages had turned slightly yellow with age. I looked at the first page and saw my own hand writing:

_To: Lily Evans_

_I know how much you love to write your thoughts down. Hopefully you will find this book useful for that purpose._

_From: Severus Snape_

I turned the page to the first entry.

_June 5th 1979_

_Dear diary,_

_I had forgotten that Sev gave me this. After our falling out in fifth year I didn't even want to look at this book, so I had hid it under my bed. We still haven't talked to each other. I miss the friendship we had. I miss him. I saw him in Diagon Alley today. He looks so pale and sad. He's been through so much in his short life. I wish he had made better decisions..._

**It all comes back to the diary and we're almost at the end of the story. Hopefully you liked this chapter. I can't promise that I will update soon, but my goal is to update within this month. Please review! I'd love to know what you think (good or bad).**


	22. Curiosity

**Hey, look, I've updated after a reasonable time! Please review! I have no clue if you liked/disliked the last chapter. Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll like it. :)**

Albus POV

The last few days working with Snape have been surprisingly nice. At first he didn't really like or tolerate me and he made it abundantly clear. But, after I proved myself to him that I could be a good assistant he warmed up to me (even laughed). It was very strange working with him because I have to cautious around him. Sometimes I forget it's not my dad that I'm talking to. He still doesn't like James or mum but he surprisingly likes my annoying sister. He really likes to complain too... about everything! He once complained that my dad's eyebrows were too thick. He's also very picky with his food; he's worst then Lily! He doesn't like the crust, mustard or onion on the sandwiches the house elves bring for us. Lily will even eat the crust on the sandwiches! The man is an enigma.

I woke up early this morning to start reading Mr Malfoy's journals. I was just at the point of closing the book to leave when I looked to the next page and saw an interesting title for a spell. I read through it and afterwards I could do nothing by stare at it with my mouth wide open. The entry I had just read was exactly what we were looking for.

"Mum! Mum, I think I've found the spell they used on dad!" I sprinted out of my room and ran to my mum who was preparing breakfast. I shoved the book under her nose.

"Albus, what are you doing? I'm cooking right now." She scolded.

"Mum I found the entry on how to get dad back!" I yelled.

"What?" She grabbed the book from my hands and read it.

"Oh my God!" She cried.

"Al... Oh my God." She was actually crying now, with a hand over her mouth. She turned to me and gave me an air restricting kind of hug.

"We have to go tell Snape."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go do that now. I was thinking of going alone though, since he needs to find out about you-know-what." She stared at me for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"Okay. I love you. Be careful." She said fiercely as she kissed my forehead.

"Yes, mum, I always am."

"I'm going to tell your Aunt and Uncle. They'll be here when you get back. Bring Snape with you for dinner!"

"Okay, bye!" I flooed to the school, ran past Headmistress McGonagall and ran to the dungeons without even breaking a sweat! I told Severus about the entry. Unfortunately, I had momentarily forgotten the important fact that he wouldn't have necessarily connected this spell to what had happened with him and my dad because he didn't know he was y dad's bio-dad. When I told him they were related he looked panicked. Thank God I gave him the diary because I really didn't feel like explaining it to him. I left Snape's room as quickly as I could. Once he is done reading the diary and processing what it means, things are going to be awkward.

On my way to the school library I crossed paths with McGonagall.

"Mr. Potter, why are you not continuing your research with Mr. Snape?"

"I am. I just need to go to the library. We found an article that sounds a lot like the spell my dad was hit with. There was an article at the end of it, so I'm looking for it. It was written in the 1100's. Do your records go back that far?"

"Yes, of course. They go back as far as 803 AD." She said, looking slightly shocked.

"I'm not doing anything at the present time. I can assist you. Two is better than one, as the muggles say." She said giddily with a broad smile on her face.

"Oh! I'm so glad..." She continued. "Do you think your father would accept the post of Defense against the Dark Arts? I've been itching to ask him for years but he's always seemed to enjoy his post tremendously. Now that he's a bit older he might consider it."

"Uh... I don't know. Maybe?" I said, confused by her excited demeanor and change of subject.

"Well? Let's get on with it. The sooner the better!"

"Right." And so, began our search.

Harry POV

"What was Snape like when he was a kid?"

"Very unhappy. His father hit him and his mother. His mother... she was indifferent about him. You can imagine what that would do to a young boy."

"Yeah." I said nodding, knowing all too well that kind of treatment.

"Oh, Harry. I'm sorry. I know my sister wasn't very kind to you." I snorted.

"Kind? Sometimes I didn't get to eat for days; I was treated like a house elf, beaten up by Uncle Vernon and bullied by Dudley. Yeah, Aunt Petunia wasn't very kind." Mum stared at me, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Was it that bad?"

"Yeah, some days were better than others. At least they didn't make me sleep in a shed." There was a moment of silence as we both starred into the lake.

"I thought you would have known that stuff, you know, from watching me."

"I wish I had known. But, no. I cannot see everything that happens in your life. Time here, like I said, is different. I only got to see some moments in your life and we were always there whenever you needed us the most. I was there when Petunia hit you with a pan and when your cousin embarrassed you in front of your peers and even when you lost your pet spider." I laughed wetly.

"He was my only friend back then." Her smile disappeared again.

"Mum, don't feel bad. It's not your fault and look I turned out great." She gave me a small smile.

"You and Severus are very much alike. I wish he hadn't been so cruel to you in school, maybe you would have gotten to know each other. Alas, no amount of wishing can change the past." She said with a sigh. I nodded in agreement.

"Do you think... do you think he would have liked me better if I didn't look so much like dad?" She thought for a bit.

"I'd like to think so. James and the Marauders had been very cruel to him in school. Severus was different because he was poor and didn't have proper social skills from being raised in a broken home. The boys didn't understand him, so they made fun of him. Looking at you was a reminder of that torment. He had a soft spot for your eyes though." She smiled. "I think he would have been puzzled if you looked any different but still clueless as to your paternity. Maybe he would have treated you the same because he thought you were James' son or maybe he would have treated you more nicely if you looked like me, because he would see you as my son. But, Severus is the only one who could really know the answer to your question, Harry."

"What do I really look like?" I blurted out.

"Do you really want to know?" I thought about it.

"Yes."

"Look into the lake." She said with a smile. I looked and then I gasped.

I didn't look all that different. My eyes were still green and my hair was still black, just a little more tame. My lips, eyebrows and eye shape were all the same. My nose was a little larger, my cheek bones more pronounced and I actually had freckles. The changes were very subtle and I still looked like me.

"Stand up." My mum said. I did as she told me.

"Step onto that rock." I took my shoes and socks off and stood on the rock.

"Now look down." I did and I was able to see my whole body. I was taller, maybe by three inches, there wasn't that much of a difference. I was leaner and oddly enough, my fingers were longer. When I looked at my whole body though, I looked the same as always.

"This is amazing." I said.

"Yes, it is. You look more like me then I expected." She said with a laugh. I stared into the lake for a little bit longer. I had been expecting to be disgusted by my appearance but I was surprised that I actually liked it.

"Harry, it's almost time to go." Mum said gently as she looked at the setting sun.

"There's one more place we need to go before you leave."

**Review!**


	23. Severus' Reactions

**I'm not going to lie, I'm proud of myself for updating this quickly. :D**

Snape POV

I quickly put the diary down and ran to the lavatory, getting sick. When I had heard Lily had been pregnant I had the smallest of suspicions the baby could be mine, but when I saw his image in the Prophet my suspicions had been quelled. I had felt relieved that Harry wasn't my son but also slightly disappointed. Now, thinking of what my life could have been, all I feel is a bone deep sadness. Tears keep falling down my face as I continue to heave. I had been so awful to Harry, I had loathed him and he had loathed me. What a cruel twist of fate.

I was angry at myself for not approaching Lily when she was pregnant about the baby's paternity and angry at Lily for keeping such a secret from me. If she had only told me, I could have raised Harry as my own. Fuck the Dark Lord! And James! I hate James now with a burning passion, even more then I hated him before. He had been there when my son was born, when he took his first step and called him dada. He even made my son's features into his own! I heaved once more. Even the things that I had, had been taken away from me by James Bloody Potter.

I rested my head on the cool porcelain of the toilet and calmed my breathing. Rational thought was coming back to me. My own thoughts betraying me. If Lily had told me about Harry I would have had to run from the Dark Lord and stay in hiding (if Dumbledore would have allowed his precious spy to leave). If he hadn't, I would have been forced to make a new identity for Harry and he might have had the same fate as Draco, being the son of a Death Eater. Or I would have had to live with the fact that Harry was my son but could not acknowledge him; letting him live with Lily's awful sister. Because if Harry had known I was his father my position as a spy could have been compromised. Yes, Lily had made the right decision, as much as I loathed it.

The door creaked open and I could hear someone walking around my rooms.

"Severus?"

"Not now, boy! Leave me!" I said, regretting it immediately. I staggered up from my position but by the time I made it to my living room, Al was gone. I closed my eyes and sighed. I needed a drink. I went to my old drink cabinet and opened the half full bottle of firewhiskey. I chugged straight out of the bottle. The first sip burnt my throat. The drink had gotten particularly strong from sitting in a cabinet for 21 years. It didn't taste the greatest either. But a drink was a drink and I drank myself to oblivion that night.

* * *

><p><em>"Severus, I'm glad to see you. I've been waiting eagerly for everyone else to finish speaking with you."<em>

_"Lily?" Severus exclaimed. He rushed towards her but then stopped a foot in front of her._

_"It's funny that you picked this place to meet with me." She said sitting down on the grass. Severus looked around himself for the first time. He was standing in front of the tree that he always met Lily when they were children._

_"I chose this?"_

_"Yes, subconsciously, at least. It's very interesting how things work here. I, myself, don't understand it. Severus, sit." She said. And like a dumb fool, he obeyed her at that very instant; sitting only centimeters away from her._

_"Thank you for everything you have done for Harry. I owe you a great deal. I'm very proud of the man you have become."_

_"How can you be? I became a Death Eater, like you always said I would. I only protected your son because of a deal I made with Albus, not because I had a sudden change of heart." He bit back._

_"Hmm, no. I don't believe that and Albus doesn't either. You did it because you love me." At that, Snape blushed and Lily smiled at him. "And maybe you loved Harry a little bit too." Severus looked affronted and opened his mouth to object._

_"Not in that sense. You loved his eyes, my eyes, didn't you? You protected him because of his eyes and because you couldn't let an innocent boy die. Albus told me you were distraught when you found out Harry was destined to die."_

_"I was distraught because I found out that all my efforts to keep the insolent boy alive past his teens was for nothing." He spat. Severus was surprised when Lily laughed._

_"Don't pretend you don't care. That's just insulting my intelligence." Severus looked at her grumpily, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise._

_"So, what is this visit for? A final goodbye before I end up like Regulus?"_

_"Severus, the reason you visited Regulus was not to show you what would become of you, but that there is forgiveness here."_

_Severus looked up at her in surprise._

_"Your crimes as a youth have been forgiven. You sacrificed everything to help the Order and protect the wizarding world's saviour." She took a deep breath. "It also helped that you helped bring their saviour into this world." She said as she looked up into the blue sky. Severus was puzzled._

_"How did I help bring him into the world? I wasn't there at the delivery." He said with narrowed eyes._

_"No, but you were there when he was conceived." Severus looked appalled._

_"Severus, you can be really thick sometimes. Here I am, practically spelling it out for you! Severus, what I'm trying to tell you is that you are Harry's biological father." Severus was silent for many long minutes._

_"You're joking." He said in a flat tone. Lily sighed._

_"No, I'm not. I cast a spell on him when he was just a baby so that he could pass as James' son. I knew from the moment I found out that I was pregnant that you were the father. You were the only possibility. James had been presumed dead until a month after Harry was conceived. I'm surprised you never did the math."_

_"I presumed he had been born early." He mumbled. He felt guilty because he had done the math. When he had heard Lily's baby had been born nine months after their... liaison he had allowed himself to think of the baby as his, but that dream had been destroyed when he had seen Harry's baby picture in the Prophet the next day._

_Severus still wasn't a 100% convinced though._

_"Prove it." He finally said._

_"I- how?" She asked puzzled._

_"There must be something here that ca-" Severus was cut off when he saw a bubbling cauldron appear from thin air with a piece of parchment next to it. Lily got up and read it._

_"It's a paternity potion. And here are the instructions on how to brew it." She said in a clipped tone. She couldn't believe he didn't take her at her word. Severus looked over the list and brewed the potion._

_"I need a strand of your hair." He said after hours of silence. Lily plucked a strand of red hair out of her head and handed it to Severus. Their hands momentarily touched and they felt an electric shock go through them. They both ignored it. He pulled out a strand of his own hair and then dropped the two strands into the potion._

_"Green-yes, colorless-no." He mumbled. They both waited in anticipation. Then the potion suddenly turned a bright green. Severus immediately sat himself back down onto the grass. After a few moments Lily spoke._

_"Please say something." She pleaded._

_"What can I say? I- I have so many thoughts running through my head. I can not... just say something." He trailed off. Then his eyes met hers and Lily's heart broke._

_"I'm sorry." She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his. Severus sat motionless. After a moment he pried her arms off of him and walked away. Lily looked at him, hurt._

_Severus walked for what felt like hours when he came upon a house. Number 4 Privet Drive. He saw blurs run past him. This is where his son had grown up. The blurs stopped moving and he saw a family gathered around a dinner table._

_He recognized Petunia, with her flowery dress and high pitched voice and of course, her husband Vernon. And there was their equally ugly son, stuffing his face with mashed potatoes. But, Harry was nowhere to be found. Severus kept walking around the house until he spotted his students handwriting. Harry's room, was written above a small cupboard. Severus was disgusted. He opened the door and saw Harry huddled on his bed with his arms wrapped around his stomach and tears running down his face. He must not have been older than seven, he was so tiny._

_"So hungry." Harry whispered into the dark and hiccoughed. Sudden realization fell upon him and he was furious. They were starving him?! How dare they! Severus spun around and stormed into the kitchen. The scene froze._

_"You cannot do anything, Severus. This is only a glimpse of the past." A familiar voice said from behind him. Severus spun around._

_"Mother?"_

**What did you think of the two different reactions? Let me know what you think of this chapter. Please review!**


	24. What Could Have Been

**This is the longest chapter I have ever written! :D I hope you all enjoy this one, I know I did when I wrote it. Just to let you know before you read this that this chapter is almost a whole other story on its own and I tried to condense it as much as I could. This is the scene I pictured writing from the very beginning of this story and I've finally made it to this point! :D **

**Spoiler-ish piece of information: later in the chapter when I write Snape it means the dead one and Severus means the alternate one. **

**Warning: Mentions of rape and suggested sexual scenes.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

"Hello Severus."

Severus stared blankly at his mother. Then, as if coming out of a trance, he said: "What is the meaning of this?"

"You believed your son was a spoiled brat. I wanted to show you that you were wrong." She said simply.

"This is cruel." He said angrily.

"If I had known he was my son-"

"You would have stormed in here and rescued him. Yes, I know. But you did not know he was your son. Would you have even cared that this was happening to him if you had found out about his treatment at the time?"

"Yes, of course I would have! No child deserves to be treated this way." His fiery eyes stared up at her.

"But of course, you couldn't understand. You let your own son get beaten by a monster. You did not love me; you resented me for being alive!" A hurt look crossed her face but she quickly schooled her features.

"I did love you, Severus." She said in a small voice.

"Tobias did not only hit you but me. He raped me most nights." She said this with little emotion.

"Yes, I know." Severus said a little more calmly.

"He was a good man before..."

"Before I was born, yes, you've told me time and again."

"How could I not resent you when my Tobias was gone the moment you were born?!" She snapped.

"It isn't my fault you didn't think of using protection! And as I recall Tobias did not become violent until I showed signs of magic. It was your own doing that he became bitter and violent. You lied to him about us. If you had told him from the start the relationship would have ended swiftly and I never would have been born. All your problems would have been solved if you had told him!"

"But I never regretted having you." She said her face crumpling. She turned her head away from him. When she looked back again she had her usual steely expression.

"We cannot change the past, unfortunately. And I would not change having you. Anyway, you were too important for the wizarding world's future. You are after all the reason why we won the war. Not just because you are the father of our saviour, but because of your spying for Dumbledore. I'm very proud of the man you've become despite your poor childhood. I am sorry for that." She paused and Severus glared at her.

"We are not here to rehash our past. I was chosen to be the one to give you your prize, of sorts." Severus looked suspicious.

"Prize?"

"Yes." She sighed. "I was against it because I thought it would be cruel. But the higher ups insisted that I show you this. You can choose, after I explain, to see it or not."

"See what?" He asked impatiently.

"What could have been, if you had made different decisions in your life. You must know that what you will see could never happen. What I am about to show you is one of the possible paths your life could have taken. You must choose now to view it or not."

"I... yes. I choose yes." He said almost immediately. Eileen sighed sadly.

"Very well. Good luck, Severus."

"What do you mean? Aren't you coming?"

"I cannot accompany you on this journey. It is for you alone to view it. I will be here when you return."

Severus opened his mouth to protest but the world around him was slowly starting to fade. For what felt like hours, Severus was surrounded by darkness and didn't dare move. When the world materialised again around him, he saw that he was standing outside of the Hog's Head. He could see his younger self hungrily listening in on Dumbledore's interview with Sybill Trelawney. She began her prophecy but then he was caught by the barkeep and thrown out of the pub.

He knew what was coming next; he would apparate away and would tell the Dark Lord what he had just learned. But instead this Severus stood outside for a very long time, thinking. Then he apparated away. Snape soon followed.

Severus banged on the door of a little house. Snape remembered that this had been the Potter's home before they had to move to Godric's Hollow. The door swung open.

"Severus?! What on Earth?" Lily yelled out.

"I need to speak with you. It's urgent." He pleaded.

"Come in, quickly." She said, pulling him into the house and shutting the door.

"Is James here?" He asked looking around.

"No, he's out for the day with the boys. What are you doing here?" Severus looked down at her flat stomach.

"Are you pregnant?" He asked urgently. Lily took in a surprised breath.

"You came here to ask me that? What gave you that idea? Have I gained weight?" She asked, looking down at herself alarmed.

"No! You look perfect." He said, than blushed.

"I...I overheard a prophecy." He told her about the prophecy. Lily paled the more he spoke.

"What made you think of me?" She asked once he'd finished. He blushed again.

"Well, um." He cleared his throat. "The end of July would be um, nine months after we, you know... I just wanted to make sure." He finished.

"Oh." She said. "Well, I am."

"What?" His head shot up in surprise.

"You were right. I am pregnant." She clarified. "James doesn't know." A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye and she hiccoughed as she took a breath. "The baby is yours." And tears poured out of her eyes. Severus sat still in shock. When he had thought of Lily, he hadn't really thought that she'd be pregnant, but he had needed to make sure before reporting the prophecy to the Dark Lord.

"What do we do?" He asked her softly.

"I'm going to tell James tonight, about everything." She finally said.

"But there's nothing you can do. No one else can know that this baby is yours. It would be a target, because you're a Death Eater and I'm a mudblood." Severus looked like someone had punched him in the face.

"I'm sorry." Was his strangled reply. Lily wrapped her arms around him and they both cried for what could have been.

"I love you." He said into her hair.

"I know."

The scene changed again.

"I can't believe that bastard left you!" Severus raged.

"What did you expect?! I cheated on him and am having your baby! I would have done the same thing if I was him!" She yelled back, her hand resting on the slight swell of her stomach.

"I'm sorry." He said, sitting down on her sofa.

"I just can't believe he left you alone in a time of war."

"Stay with me then." She said.

"You know I can't. If anybody-"

"You can floo here and back home. No one would be the wiser. Please. I can't stand being alone."

"Okay." He finally relented.

The scene changed once more and Snape was reeling from all the changes that were already happening.

"The baby moved!" Lily yelled out as she stood up from her position on the sofa. Severus put his potions journal on the coffee table and rushed over to her.

"What? Really?" He put his hand on her stomach, but could not feel anything.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Severus. You can't feel the baby yet, only I can." He looked disappointed.

"What did it feel like?"

"Like a butterfly swimming around in my stomach." She laughed and then stopped abruptly. She had just realised how close they were standing to each other.

"Umm, I'm just going to mmh," she was interrupted when Severus had put his lips upon hers. They hadn't done anything like this since there last and only night together. Severus put his hands on her hips and pulled her flush against him as Lily wound her hands through his hair.

Snape blushed furiously and looked away. The scene changed once again.

Their fingers were twined over Lily's belly as they lay lazily in bed. She now looked four to five months pregnant.

"I was thinking Nicholas." Severus said.

"After Nicholas Flamel? Figures you'd want that name. And no, definitely not." She laughed. Severus harrumphed.

"Then Sebastian, it's a good name."

"Remember that awful boy who used to live next to me?" Severus nodded. "His name was Sebastian."

"Then your answer is no." He said, looking contemplative.

"Celeste?"

"No, that was the name of Petunia's friend from grade four. She had a squeaky voice." Severus sighed.

"You're very picky, you know. At this rate our baby will be born nameless." Lily laughed and snuggled against his chest.

"Rose for a girl, then?" He asked. Lily looked up at him and smiled softly.

"Yes, I like that." She said, kissing his nose.

"That's settled then." He laughed. "Now we need a boy's name."

"Hmm..." She said sleepily.

"What about Harry after my father?" She said. Severus looked down at her head sadly.

"Yes, I think that will work."

"Good, because that's what we're naming him." She said and he smiled.

"What last name will the baby go by?" He asked. The question had been troubling him for a while.

"I was thinking Evans. We know the baby can't go by your name and I know you don't want the baby to go by Potter."

"Won't people question it?"

"Yes, but James and I are separated. I could just say it's a muggle tradition to go by the mother's maiden name after a divorce."

"Divorce?"

"Hmm, yes. Once James comes back from wherever he went to, I'll ask him to sign divorce papers. I've already got them ready for him in my night stand."

Severus looked down at her in surprise and kissed her hair. A few moments later, she was snoring.

Snape felt despair at what could have been. He hated himself for his choices more than ever. The scene changed once again and Severus braced himself for what he was about to see.

"Yes, just like that!" Snapes' eyes widened as he saw the scene before him. Lily was straddling his other self and they both seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot. Lily and Severus let out moans when there was a bang that came from the front room.

Lily rolled off of Severus and he quickly put on some trousers and grabbed his wand.

"Stay here." He told her as she got dressed and grabbed her own wand. She sat on the bed and waited for him. Snape quickly looked at her and her enormous belly. He couldn't tell how far along she was, but she looked about ready to pop and she looked beautiful.

"What are you doing here?!" He heard a familiar voice yell out in outrage. Lily sprung up out of bed and waddled towards the men in her living room. Snape followed.

The scene that greeted him was a familiar one. Severus and James Potter were pointing there wands at each other.

"Isn't it obvious?" Severus asked mockingly. James looked down at his naked chest and scuffed in disgust. When Lily walked into the room James looked at her with bright eyes. When he saw her belly his eyes lowered and so did his wand.

"So this is your choice, then?" He asked her sadly.

"Yes." Lily choked out.

"James, I'm sorry." She said, reaching her hand out to him.

"Don't." He spat out.

"Answer me truthfully; did I ever have a chance of winning your heart or was it always his?" Silent tears ran down her face.

"I did love you. But... I've always loved Severus too. I hadn't realised I was in love with him until several months ago. I thought our love was enough. If I have known then of my true feelings I never would have agreed to marry you... to hurt you this much. It was never my intent to betray your love for me."

"It would have been a worse betrayal if you had lied to me. I'm glad you told me because it would have hurt more to live the rest of my life with a woman who loved another." His eyes flicked to Severus and he had the decency to look ashamed.

"I... I have d-divorce papers ready. We could end this now, if you'd like." She said hesitantly.

"The sooner, the better." He said. She got the papers and he signed them.

"Good luck." He told her and walked out of their lives. Lily cried the rest of the day.

The scene changed again. He was in a darker room and his other self was kneeling on the ground.

"I need a spy within Dumbledore's ranks. Someone young and competent. Severusss, there is a post available within Hogwarts for Defence Against the Dark Arts, I want you to secure that post."

"Yes, my lord."

" Wormtail, you had news for me?"

"Y-yes, m-my Lord."

"Stop stuttering and stand up, you imbecile."

"Y-yes, my lord!" He stood up quickly.

"I overheard Dumbledore speaking of a prophecy with one of the Hogwarts professors." Severus paled and felt his heart slam against his chest.

"It spoke of a boy born at the end of July that would defeat you, my lord!" He whimpered as the Dark Lord stood up.

"Lucius, you have a post within the ministry. When the end of July is upon us, inform me immediately of all the children born at that time. Wormtail, tell me specifically, word for word, the prophecy.

"I apologise, my lord, but they only spoke of the prophecy."

Voldemort flicked his wand at him and he squealed in pain.

"No matter. We will kill all the children born at the end of July."

Once the meeting had concluded, Severus apparated in front of Hogwarts castle. He vehemently fought with Hargid, but the half-giant would not let him in the castle grounds.

"Then send Dumbledore! It's urgent!" He pleaded. Hagrid finally gave in and fetched Dumbledore. The professor walked towards Severus glaring at him with steely blue eyes.

"Mr. Snape. What do I owe pleasure of you visit?"

"Sir, there was a prophecy made in January by Sybill Trelawney. I overheard it, but did not report back to the Dark Lord. Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew, has joined the Death Eaters and he overheard the prophecy. He told the Dark Lord." Severus said breathlessly. Dumbledore looked troubled.

"He plans on killing all the children born at the end of July. We need to protect them!" He pleaded. Dumbledore looked at him suspiciously.

"Yes, of course. But why do you care all of a sudden, Mr Snape? It was my understanding that you hated mudbloods" he flinched "and loved to torture muggles."

"I never." He began desperately.

"Answer my question, Mr Snape."

"Lily is pregnant. She is due at the end of July."

"Yes, I remember hearing of it. And you want me to protect her?"

"Yes, both of them, please."

"And what of James Potter? Should I not also protect him?"

"If it is necessary, yes. But he does not live with Lily anymore. He left months ago." Dumbledore looked surprised.

"James left when Lily is pregnant?"

"Yes, because... because he isn't the father of Lily's baby." Dumbledore's eyes turned ice cold.

"I am." He finally said. Dumbledore looked beyond furious.

"Do you know how much danger Lily is in, now that she's having a Death Eaters child?!"

"We know this, and no one else knows! We already have a story to explain Lily and Potter's separation and why the baby will go by the name Evans and not Potter."

"And what if the child looks like you?" He demanded.

"We are hoping he doesn't." He said simply.

"There is more you aren't telling me." Dumbledore said, still furious.

"Yes. The Dark Lord wants me to secure a position within the Order of the Phoenix and at Hogwarts as the DADA professor as a spy. I am offering you my services. I will tell you everything I learn at the meetings; I will be your spy."

"Do you know how dangerous that could be for you?"

"Yes, I do."

"It could cost you your life."

"I know."

"Your interview is next Tuesday at 1:30. Do not be late." Dumbledore turned on his heel and walked back up to the castle.

So, he would still be a teacher, Snape thought, shaking his head. No matter which path he chose, he supposed he was always destined to be a teacher.

This scene was a great contrast to the last one Snape watched. He was in a hospital watching Lily give birth alone. She was crying and in great pain. He wondered where his other self was. Not a moment after the thought popped into his head, he was transported to a home he did not recognise.

Severus was sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. He got up and paced. He was so frustrated that he wanted to cry. They had both wanted him to be at the birth, but it was too risky so they opted for him to stay at their home until she was released from Saint Mungo's. They now lived at Godric's Hollow under the Fidelius charm. They had decided that it would be best for Poppy Pomfrey to be their secret keeper. It would have been too risky for Severus and too obvious if Dumbledore had been the Secret Keeper. Madam Pomfrey wasn't an obvious choice and was almost always at Hogwarts. It was hours later when the bright sky had turned black that he heard the floo activate. The only way anyone could get in their home was from the floo at Hogwarts. Lily walked through the fireplace with the help of Madam Pomfrey. Severus ran over to them and helped Lily into their bed. She looked exhausted.

"Look at him, Sev." She said in a soft voice. She looked at the bundle in her arms with adoration. Severus looked down at the baby and almost started crying. The baby was fast asleep and was sucking at thin air. He had black hair and his face was pale, almost translucent.

"Here, you go." She said, handing him the baby. He was speechless.

"Harry Remus Evans." They had decided on Remus for a middle name if they had a boy because he was still a good friend of Lily's and treated Severus civilly. They had also decided that Remus would be Harry's godfather.

"A boy?" He choked out happily. He looked back down at Harry and couldn't take his eyes off of him. Harry squawked and then started to whimper.

"What do I do?" He asked panicked.

"He's just hungry. Hand him over." She said, extending her arms out to him. Severus reluctantly handed the baby back to her. She took off her night shirt and Harry latched onto her breast. Severus was mesmerised.

"Oh, that feels funny." She said in surprise. Severus carefully laid down next to her. He took a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear.

"I love you. I'm so proud of you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there." He said remorsefully.

"Don't be. And I love you too." They kissed softly and then watched as Harry's eyes fluttered closed.

Snape cried silently as he watched the tender scene. That could have been his life! Oh, what a fool he had been. He wanted to leave, this was torture. But when his world went black and he re-appeared to another scene; he knew it was not over.

"Severus, quickly! Come see!" Severus ran from the study to the living room in a panic. Instead of the chaotic scene he was expecting, he saw his 13 month old take his first steps. After a few steps Harry fell on his bum.

"Good job Harry." Lily said, clapping her hands. Harry squealed and clapped his own little hands. Severus grabbed Harry under the armpits and swung him over his head.

"Good job Harry!" He said as he brought him down to his face and blew a raspberry on his stomach. Harry laughed and squealed: "Dada!" Severus' face lit up as he kissed his sons chubby cheek and put him back down.

"Did you catch it on camera?" He asked Lily.

"Yes, of course." She said, pointing at the video camera on the fireplace mantle. He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her. The moment was ruined when his dark mark burned. His smile dropped and he said: "I have to go." Lily nodded in understanding.

The scene changed.

Severus was nervous, his palms were disgustingly sweaty. His first course of his teaching career would be to first years. Horace Slughorn was still teaching the upper years and was still head of Slytherin house. This gave Severus time to get used to teaching. It also helped Severus because a lot of the older students still remembered him as a student. Hopefully by the end of the year no one would remember him as Snivellus, but as the fearsome Professor Snape. He opened the door to his empty classroom and walked in. Severus was rehearsing his speech once more. When he had performed it in front of Lily she hadn't been able to stop laughing. He'd stop and she'd insist he keep going. After he had finished she had exclaimed that he made it sound like he was in love with the subject. He didn't talk to her for a couple hours after that.

The first student to arrive was five minutes early. Too soon for his liking the classroom was full. He stood in front of the class and began his speech.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death."*

Snape rolled his eyes. Of course he would still have the same speech in an alternate life. He laughed. The scene changed.

"I'm so sorry Lily." Severus said as he held her as she cried. They had just been informed that Alice and Frank Longbottom had been tortured to death. Little Neville was still alive and Voldemort was gone. But Lily had lost one of her best friends.

"Mummy?" Harry toddled over to them, half-dressed as a pumpkin (the news had come when they had been preparing him to go out for Halloween). Lily grabbed Harry and squeezed him to her.

"You're free now, Severus." She said, with a watery smile.

"Only until he comes back."

"Do you really believe he isn't truly gone?"

"That's what Dumbledore believes. Our relationship has to stay a secret until he is gone for good." Lily cried anew.

"It isn't fair." She wailed. Harry began to cry at his mother's distress.

The scene changed again and Snape stared at a four year old Harry with a Superman backpack.

"One more picture sweetheart." Lily said.

"Dad, make her stop. It's the thousandth picture she's tooken." Harry whinged. Severus laughed and Lily scowled.

"Taken, Harry. And it's the last one. Smile." Lily said. Harry gave her a fake smile. Click! It was done.

"Okay, let's go." Harry said as he grabbed his parents' hands and dragged them behind him. It was Harry's first day at a muggle primary school and Severus and Lily had deemed it safe for him to accompany Harry on the first day of school (Dumbledore was hidden by James' invisibility cloak at the school to keep an eye out for them).

The closer they got to the school the more withdrawn Harry seemed to be.

"This is your class. Give me a hug." Severus said. Harry flew to him and gave him a tight hug, then he hugged his mother.

"You be a good boy for your teachers." Lily said as her voice quavered. Harry's bottom lip started to tremble.

"I don't want to go."

"You have to baby boy. You'll make lots of friends. You'll see; it will be fun."

"No, please mummy. I don't want to go." He was holding tightly on to her.

"Severus." Lily whispered pleadingly.

"Harry, you've got to let go now and be a big boy. We'll see you at home for lunch, okay?" Because it was the children's first day of school they only had a half day. Severus was able to get Slughorn to teach for him on this Wednesday (it was only two classes of double potions) so that he could be with Lily and Harry on Harry's first day of school.

Severus had to pry Harry off of Lily and hand him to the teacher. They left before Harry could see them go, but they still heard his wail.

"Mummy!" Lily broke down crying.

"We'll pick him up in a few hours, Lily. He'll be okay." She nodded and sniffled into his shirt. Lily was morose for the rest of the morning and Severus could not do anything about it. When it was 11:59 they apparated near the school and found Harry putting on his coat with all the other little children.

"Mummy! Daddy!" He yelled out excitedly before rapidly recounting his day to them. Severus observed that Lily was smiling happily down at their son.

"But, there was this boy and he wasn't very nice and..." Lily hadn't been watching where she was walking and walked into a slim woman.

"Oh, I'm so... Petunia?" Lily asked in surprise. Severus abruptly stopped walking and grabbed onto his son's hand as he stared at Lily's sister.

"Lily?" She said in astonishment as her eyes travelled towards Harry and then up to Severus' face. She gasped.

"You're with the Snape boy?" She yelled in outrage.

"I thought you were still married to that Potter prat!"

"Tuney, not here, please. Let's talk elsewhere."

"We have nothing to talk about." She spat and turned her nose up.

"Dudders, come to mummy. We're going home now."

"That's the mean boy." Harry whispered to Severus.

"You can say good-bye to the children here; you'll be going to a different school now." Petunia said angrily.

"But mum."

"No, buts. Apparently uncultured pigs go to this school. I will not have my son associating with them. Come along Dudley." She elbowed Severus on the way out of the school. Lily had a hurt expression.

"Lily, don't listen to her, she's just..."

"I know." She sniffed.

Snape was angry, but not surprised that Lily's sister could be that cruel. The scene changed once more.

Severus was sitting on their bed as he watched Lily pace.

"I can't believe we let this happen. So foolish." She fumed.

"Maybe it's not such a bad thing." He said. Lily looked at him with sad eyes.

"No, it's not. But we were lucky that Harry looked more like me then you, what if this baby looks more like you? It's hard enough keeping our relationship from the wizarding world, but how am I going to explain another baby?"

"One night stand?" He shrugged.

"Oh, yes. Not only am I a muggleborn, but a harlot."

"I don't know what to say Lily. Do you have any better suggestions?"

"No." She shook her head sadly and hugged him tighter.

"I'm happy about this baby." He said.

"Me too. We're having another baby." And they kissed.

The scene changed.

"Come here, Harry." Severus whispered to his eight year old son.

"Sit down." He said, and then handed him the little baby.

"She's so small." Harry said.

"You were that small once Harry."

"No way." He said in disbelief. Severus nodded.

"What's her name?"

"Rose Alice Evans."

"I like it." Harry said. Rose started to fuss.

"Uh..." He said, not knowing what to do. Severus grabbed Rose and rocked her until she quieted and then put her in the bassinet next to Lily.

"Can no one know you're her dad too?" Harry asked sadly. Severus looked up in surprise. His son was a little too perceptive for his age.

"No, they can't Harry."

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"I'm smart." He retorted. Severus sighed in exasperation.

"When you were little there was a bad man and he was after you and your mum." He started. "I pretended to work for him. Dumbledore says that one day he will come back and he cannot know that I am not really working for him. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded his head as if he understood. Severus sighed.

"Why don't we give your sister a tour of the house?"

"Okay!" Harry said excitedly.

Snape stared at Lily on her bed as she dozed peacefully. He could hear Harry speak as they toured their house.

"...and this is my room. You can come in here whenever you want, put you can't break anything. Oh, and don't touch my potions kit. It's dangerous, right dad?"

"Right." He heard his alternate self say.

Snape sighed and the scene changed.

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled. Harry smiled and got up from the stool to join his new house mates. Severus had a small smile on his face; he won the bet against Lily. Harry quickly looked up at the head table and gave his father a smirk.

...

Severus ran to the infirmary in a panic. Dumbledore had just informed him that several students from Gryffindor had been brought up to the infirmary, including Harry. He sighed in relief when he saw Harry eating from a box of chocolates. His head was wrapped with a bandage and his right arm was in a sling, but he was alive and that's all that mattered. Severus looked around himself and only saw a small redhead fast asleep in the next bed. Severus cast a muffliato just in case.

"Harry, of all the foolish things... What were you thinking going after Quirrel?"

"We tried to tell, but no one would listen!"

"We had things under control Harry. We knew what was happening. It wasn't up to you and your foolish friends to confront him. You could have gotten killed!" He fumed.

"I'm sorry, dad, but we couldn't just let Neville go by himself-"

"So you're blaming Neville now..."

"No! I'm just saying that we all decided to do it and now Quirrel's gone and we're all okay. I don't regret doing it." He said petulantly.

"10 points from Gryffindor for your sheer stupidity." Harry looked affronted.

"Your mother is not going to be very pleased with me or you about this." Severus sighed.

"I am relieved that no serious damage has been caused to your person." He hugged Harry tightly.

"Ow, dad." Harry protested.

"I love you, you little trouble maker." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Love you too dad." Severus got up from the bed and opened the curtains.

"Oh, and you're grounded for the rest of the summer." Harry groaned.

Snape smirked and the scene changed.

Select members of the Order of the Phoenix were gathered for a meeting at Sirius Black's home. Only select members of the Order had been informed of Severus and Lily's relationship; which were the remaining members of the Marauders, of course, McGonagall, Shacklebolt and Mr & Mrs Weasley. It was quite the awkward affair, in Severus' opinion. James Potter sat between his two best friends across the table from Severus and Lily. James tried avoiding eye contact with Lily as much as possible and Sirius glared furiously at Severus. Remus, ever the peacekeeper, tried to keep his friends attention on his conversation.

Severus could hear Harry and the Weasley boys playing loudly upstairs. Ginny, Rose and Hermione were together in Sirius' library.

"I'm glad to see everyone could make it." Dumbledore said jovially as he walked into the room.

"Thank you for the biscuits, Molly. They're divine. As most of you know we are hiring a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year. I am happy to announce that the new Professor is our very own Remus Lupin." Remus grinned as everyone slapped him on the back.

"Nice, Moony!"

"Proud of you, mate."

"Pray tell, how do we deal with his, shall we say, furry little problem?" Severus interrupted their happy congratulations. The room fell silent. Lily stomped on his foot.

"That's where you come in Severus. When Remus is unavailable to teach you will teach in his place. I'm sure you wouldn't have any problems with that." Dumbledore said jovially. Severus grumbled a no. Lily put her hand on his and squeezed it. She knew how much he wanted the DADA post and Albus always refused to give it to him.

"Now onto more serious news. Peter Pettigrew has managed to escape from Azkaban; the Prophet, at my request, will post this tomorrow morning. "We still are unsure as to how he was able to escape-"

"He's an animagus; a rat!" James cried out.

"A rat?" Dumbledore asked intrigued.

"Yes. I can't believe we forgot to tell you. He's an unregistered animagus. But I thought there was magic in Azkaban to prevent that."

"There is." Dumbledore said gravely. "Someone must have disabled those charms for him to escape."

...

Severus was observing Sirius' family tapestry and glared at Bellatrix Lestrange's name. She had almost killed his son and Miss Granger a few months back. Severus never liked the witch and wished her dead. He resented the fact that now his summers would be consumed with Death Eater meetings and it made him sick to think of the things he had to watch. Severus was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his son's voice.

"Oof, sorry, Mr Potter! Rosie, give that back! It's mine!" He heard a squeal and banging feet as they ran. He'd need to break them apart again. Recently Rose had started stealing Harry's things so that she could get more of his attention. She didn't like it that Harry spent so much time with Ginny Weasley. He started walking down the hall when he saw James's back as he stared down the hall at his children.

"Potter." He said as a greeting. James turned around and looked at Severus with sad, empty eyes. Severus cleared his throat.

"Look, you'll uh... find someone... that is nice for you and have your own children one day. Professor Burbage has a liking for you, maybe you can uh... ask her to ...go out with you." Severus cleared his throat again and stood up straighter.

"Stop staring at my kids with that pathetic wounded dog expression." James stared at him blankly. Severus started to walk away.

"They should have been mine." James said quietly. Severus stopped walking, thought better of it, and followed the noise of his squabbling children.

...

"He keeps staring at them." Severus told Lily one weekend night after an Order meeting. Lily sighed.

"I don't know what to say, Severus. I can't exactly control where he stares. He's just sad and lonely."

"Yes, but he gives me the creeps."

"Ugh, Severus, he's not staring at them in a perverted way. He's just being wishful."

"Wishful?" He asked skeptically.

"Ugh, you're impossible. Just go to bed." He was silent for a minute.

"Maybe you could convince Remus to get him a date." Lily hit him with her pillow.

...

Dumbledore was dead. Severus felt like screaming and crying and he didn't know what. He had just killed Dumbledore and Neville Longbottom had seen him do it. His son would undoubtedly know by now. He would hate him. And Lily... Severus had promised Dumbledore not to tell a soul about their plan and that included Lily. She would feel betrayed and heartbroken. Severus turned around to apparate and saw Harry helping Neville up from the ground. Harry's disbelieving eyes met his and Severus tried to convey to him his regret. Harry's eyes turned hard and Severus apparated.

...

He had heard murmurs that Neville, Harry, Hermione and Ron were on the run. Severus was constantly worried over Harry's wellbeing and tried to help him as much as he could without being detected. He hadn't heard a word from Lily since he had killed Dumbledore. Today was the only day that he could get away from the castle without being detected. He apparated to Godric's Hollow and watched his home from behind some trees. Lily was sitting on their sofa, staring vacantly into the fireplace. Rose was on her stomach, drawing something. She kept looking up at Lily, as if to say something, then thought better of it and continued drawing. Severus couldn't stay there anymore; he needed to see them. He walked to the house and went to open the door. It was locked. The door always unlocked when he put his hand on the knob. He tried opening it again but it would not budge. Lily must have changed the wards around the house. He took a deep breath to stabilise his emotions. He knocked hesitantly on the door. Lily peeked through the window and her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She said something to Rose and she left the living room. The door opened.

Severus felt a sharp sting against his cheek. He looked at Lily in shock; she had slapped him. She had her hand over her mouth and she was sobbing. He stepped into the house and closed the door. He reached out a hand to her.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She said, looking fiercely up at him. Severus felt his heart stutter in his chest.

"Lily." He said pleadingly.

"How could you?!" She yelled out and started wailing.

"I thought... I thought that you were on our side. Dumbledore did nothing but help you. Did you do it for the power? To become headmaster?!" She sounded hysterical. She took a shaky breath to calm herself.

"Harry's gone and I have no clue if he's dead or alive. This is your fault and I hate you." She yelled out, hitting him over and over against his chest. He let her do it. After a few minutes, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him. He was surprised she didn't protest.

"I loved you." She said softly and Severus couldn't bear it anymore.

"Harry is safe. I've been keeping an eye on him. I can't tell you where he is, but know he's safe. I've been helping him whenever I can." He took a shaky breath. "Dumbledore" he choked, "Dumbledore was dying because of a cursed ring. He only had, maybe, another year left to live. The Dark Lord sent Draco on an impossible mission; to find a way for Death Eaters to get into the castle and kill Dumbledore. Narcissa came to me when I was brewing at Spinner's End. I made an unbreakable vow with her that I would protect her son. Dumbledore also made me promise that when the time came, I would kill him and not allow Draco to do it. I didn't want to kill him." Tears silently slipped down his face. "Believe me I didn't. And I especially didn't want to become Headmaster. I know I don't deserve that position. And everyone now hates me; even Poppy and I cannot tell anyone of my true allegiance. But, I couldn't bear for you not to know." He paused. "I'm going to die, Lily. I know it. And I'm sorry." Lily stared at him in shock.

"Oh... oh my God. You're not... you're not on You-Know-Who's side?"

"No, never. I despise him." Lily sobbed in relief. Severus sat on the ground, leaning against the door as he held Lily.

"Does Harry know?"

"No." He said, staring heavenwards as he tried not to let the traitorous tears leave his eyes.

"You're not going to die. I won't let it happen." And he kissed her. He let her know through the kiss how much he loved her, how much he regretted not being with her now and how much he would miss her. Because he knew this was their goodbye.

"I love you." He rasped.

"I love you too." She hiccoughed.

"There was something I wanted to tell you-"

"Daddy?" Rose's hopeful voice came from the hallway.

"Rose." He whispered.

"Daddy!" She ran to him and crashed into his arms.

"I missed you so much daddy. Are you home for good now?"

"I'm afraid not, Rosie."

"Can I come with you, then?"

"No sweetheart. You have to stay here with your mum and keep her safe and happy. I love you." He kissed her cheek and held onto her tight.

"Love you too daddy. Can..." Severus' Dark Mark burned.

"I have to go." He said sadly.

"But daddy!"

"Rose." Lily said and Rose shut her mouth. Severus got up and gave Rose one last hug and kiss. Then he turned to Lily and kissed her once more.

"I love you both very much." He stepped out of the door and apparated away.

Snape could barely contain his own sadness at the scene. He wished to leave. "I've got the message!" He yelled to no one in particular. But he felt the familiar pull of another changing scene and resigned himself to his fate.

The next scene he watched was his death scene. Snape shuddered when he watched the snake tear into his alternate self's throat. He put his own hand over his own throat and remembered the excruciating pain of that moment. He was overwhelmed by the scene. Three young adults ran into the Shrieking Shack. He noticed that Harry was not among them. The other Severus gave Neville his memories and then he closed his eyes. He sighed in relief when his surroundings became dark again, but was surprised when he came upon another scene.

Harry was lying in a cot, with Lily holding his hand. Every so often she would run her fingers through his hair, sigh deeply, look around with a hopeful expression and then she would return to staring at his face.

"Hurry, Mr Longbottom! Time is of the essence!" Snape turned around from where he stood and saw Poppy hold a cloth to his other self's neck and Neville levitating him. Lily got up to see what the commotion was about and saw Severus drenched in blood. She ran to his side.

"Oh Merlin, Severus! What can I do?"

"Get me three bottles of blood-replenishing potion and a bottle of anti-venom. He's been bit by a snack."

"Voldemort's snake. The venom is deadly." Neville added and Lily blanched. She ran to the infirmary potions supply closet and hurriedly grabbed the potions.

"Give him the anti-venom first. Then two bottles of blood-replenishing potion." Madam Pomfrey said and she looked at the wound and cringed.

"We'll need more blood-replenishing potions and some dittany, Ms Evans." Lily ran off again.

"Do you think he'll make it?" Neville whispered. Poppy took a shaky sigh.

"I am hoping he will, but the odds of him surviving such an attack..." She shook her head sadly.

"Press against the wound here, dear. Don't touch the blood." She said as she administered the third blood-replenishing potion. Lily came back with the dittany.

"Oh good." Poppy started applying it. The skin sizzled as the dittany touched it, but it slowly started to knit itself back together again. She let out a sigh of relief.

"We just wait now. Give him more blood-replenishing potion in a half-hour and another dose of anti-venom in an hour. If he makes it through the night, the odds of him living are pretty good." Neville levitated Severus' cot next to Harry.

"Thank you." She said to him. Next to her, Harry groaned. Lily turned around to look at her son.

"Mum?" He asked her blearily.

"Harry." She cried and kissed him all over his face.

"Ugh, what happened?"

"Percy told me that you and Fred were hit by a falling wall."

"Ow," he said pathetically, "where's Fred?"

"Last time I saw him he was unconscious, but alive." Harry sighed deeply.

"Percy said that if you hadn't run to him, he would have been crushed. That was very brave of you, but never ever do that again!" She started crying. "Poppy said your legs will be mended by tomorrow evening and that you'll feel a little woozy for the next week." She squeezed him in a tight hug. That's when Harry saw his father.

"Dad!" He cried. He tried getting out of his cot but his legs wouldn't move.

"He's not...?" Harry asked worriedly.

"No, but he's very ill. Voldemort's snake bit him," Harry's eyes widened, "if he makes it through the night he should be alright." Harry sighed in relief, then he began to look angry.

"I hate him. Why did he-"

"He didn't Harry! He was always on our side." Harry looked up at her in surprise. Lily told him what Severus had told her.

"But, what if he's lying?" Harry whispered, looking tired.

"He wasn't. He's a good man and he loves you and your sister. He would never turn his back on us." Lily felt like an immense hypocrite for saying this when just months before she had believed him to be a traitor. Harry sighed wearily and lay back down.

"I'm gonna go to sleeee" and he was asleep. Lily grabbed Severus' hand.

It had been a gruelling night for Snape as he watched Lily administer drug after drug into his body through the night and she never slept. In the morning Neville came to visit Harry.

"Hey Harry."

"Hi Neville. How are you?"

"Better then you are mate. Just relieved this is all over."

"Yeah." Harry nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't you ever tell me Snape was your dad?" Neville asked with a hurt tone.

"How do you know that?" Harry exclaimed.

"He gave me his memories right after he was bit by Nagini. I guess he thought he wouldn't make it..." Harry sniffed.

"Oh... I wanted to tell you. But mum and dad said it was best not to tell you because of your connection with Voldemort. If he saw that, he would have killed my dad." Neville nodded in understanding.

"Who else knows?"

"Most of the Order, some of the Weasley's and Hermione. But I swear, she figured it out by herself." Neville looked slightly hurt.

"Now that the wars done, is everyone gonna know?"

"Yeah. Mum and dad'll be relieved. They hated not be able to go out together with us."

"Us?"

"Oh, yeah, my little sister Rose."

"I thought she had a different dad."

"No, they just said that for the papers."

"Oh." Neville laughed. "This is weird. I always thought Snape's son would be this big grouchy git." Harry laughed too.

It was a week later that Severus finally awoke. A lot of things had changed in that week. Once Severus was stable enough they had moved him back to their home. Harry found out that he had a little brother who was only 3 months old. Harry fell in love with him instantly. Rose was very happy to have her big brother back and kept complaining that having a little brother was not as much fun as she had thought. Harry had also gotten back together with Ginny and they were now engaged; it was going to be a long engagement. Harry had been brewing some murtlap essence and strengthening solution when he heard a groan coming from his parents' room. Harry put a stasis charm over the potion and rushed to his parents' room. Severus was trying to sit up but he looked very disoriented.

"Harry?" He slurred his name.

"Dad, lay back down or you'll open your wound again."

"Wha...? Hurts." He complained.

"I know. Drink this." Harry said, handing him a potion from his bed side table.

"Better." He gasped. "Water?" Harry summoned a cup and said "aguamenti".

"Drink it slowly." He said, as he tipped the cup over his mouth. Once he was done, he asked: "Lily?"

"Uh, I'll go get her." Harry knocked on the door to the nursery. Lily opened the door and Harry blushed furiously and looked away. She was breastfeeding the baby and it embarrassed Harry to see her do this.

"Dad's awake. He's asking for you." Lily gasped and handed him the baby. The baby made a noise of protest but fell back asleep when he was settled in Harry's arms. Harry walked to his parents' room and listened in on their conversation. He could hear his mother crying.

"I was so worried..."

"S'okay... here now." He saw them kiss and looked away again in embarrassment. Severus caught him looking though and gave him a smirk. The smile fell when he saw the baby.

"Did you have a baby Harry?" He asked in an odd voice.

"N-no!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes growing wide in shock. The baby started to cry at his outburst. Lily got up and grabbed him. She rocked him for a few seconds and he fell back asleep. Severus was looking at her oddly.

"Severus... This is our son. I wanted to tell you about him when you came by in October, but we hadn't had the time." She said sadly. She tipped her arms over so he could see him. He smiled softly as he took in the baby's features. He had black hair, pale skill and a small nose. He looked a lot like Harry did when he was a baby.

"His name?" He asked, getting chocked up with emotions.

"He doesn't have one yet. I didn't want to pick one until you were home." Severus smiled up at her sadly. Just then the baby opened his eyes and Severus gasped. Instead of seeing the green eyes he was expecting to see he saw dark brown ones just like Rose's. Lily looked down at the baby who was staring inquiringly at the man before him.

"He looks a lot like you."

"Hope he doesn't get my nose." Lily chuckled.

"Your nose isn't so bad. I happen to like it." Harry rolled his eyes and left the room to continue brewing but Snape stayed behind to watch the scene.

"He looks like a Devin."

"Devin?"

"It means gift." Lily looked down at the baby and smiled.

"I like that. Devin Severus Snape." Severus looked at her in surprise.

"Once everything settles down, the kids are changing their names to Snape." Severus smiled happily and kissed her.

"Marry me." He said breathlessly.

"Yes."

Snape sighed wearily and knew what was coming next.

"We've had a good life, haven't we?" Asked an older looking Snape.

"Yes." The woman said sadly. "A very good life." Snape realised it was an older Lily; a Lily that could never be because she died at the young age of 21. Severus coughed violently.

"I'm glad." He said.

"I love you daddy." Said a middle aged Rose.

"Love you too, my Rosie."

"Love you dad." Harry said squeezing his other hand.

"I love you dad." Devin said and kissed his cheek.

"I love you all too. Be good, okay? Don't feed your kids too much sugar. Merlin knows I regretted doing that with you three." He started to laugh but was overtaken by a coughing fit. Blood dribbled down his lip. Lily quickly wiped it away. They stayed with him until his very last moment. Severus Snape took his last breath at 4:06 pm, May 2nd 2096.

Snape was crying when he reappeared in front of his mother.

**_*_****Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Ch. 8 pg 136 & 137**

**Also, I didn't add a description of Rose's looks but I pictured her as looking like the little girl who played Lily in the movie (red hair and brown eyes).**

**So, it's a little longer than I expected it to be. I hope everyone enjoyed it. And please review! It did take me a long time to write this... Anyway, here's a scene I wanted to put into this chapter, but it didn't really quite fit anywhere. I got this idea from nowhere and thought it was a little funny. And anyway, I'm sure some of you are wondering what happened to James in this alternate world.**

Severus was walking down the hall of Grimmauld place for their monthly Order meeting. It had been a year and a half since the war but they kept up the meetings in case anything cropped up. Severus could hear suspicious noises coming from the library. When he heard a woman scream he broke out into a run. He opened the door to the library and his eyes widened in shock. James Potter had his trousers down to his ankles and a familiar bushy haired witch was straddled to his lap.

"Professor!" She yelled out in shock.

"Miss Granger! Cover yourself." He turned around and listened to them arranging their clothing.

"James Potter you should be ashamed of yourself... fraternizing with a child!"

"I'm not a child!" He glared at her.

"She's old enough to be your daughter for Merlin's sake! Are you really this desperate? You disgust me! How long has this been going on?"

"This is none of your business Snape! And you're one to talk; you slept with a married woman!"

"That's different! We are the same age and I was in love with her since I was eleven."

"And I've been in love with her for four years!"

"What?" Hermione gasped.

"You're disgusting! I always thought you were pathetic, but not a paedophile!"

"I'm not, god damn it! She was sixteen and nothing happened between us until a couple months ago." Severus scowled.

"Disgusting!" He spat out. "Is there anything that I can say that would persuade you otherwise, Miss Granger?"

"No." She said softly. "I'm in love with him."

And to Severus' chagrin they were married a year later and had their first child two years after that.

**Sorry to those who ship Romione, I just needed to write this scene...**


	25. Changes

**Hey y'all, I know it's been over a month and I'm sorry for the delay. I've been busy with school work. This chapter is pretty small, but it's all I had time to write. The next time I can probably write is in April. Hopefully I can find some time between then to write at least one more chapter, but I am not making promises. Anyway, hope you enjoy the little bit I have written.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

"Severus?" He heard his mother ask hesitantly. He looked away from her and hid his face behind his hair. He took a shaky breath to compose himself.

"Are you alright, Severus?" Severus looked up at her. He was glaring.

"I did say it was best that-"

"Mother, I do not need I-told-you-so's." He said in a cool voice.

"I just thought it was best-"

"I do not regret it." He told her with conviction.

"Severus, I know how you are. You will torture yourself with the memories of what could have been." He glared at her, but knew she was right.

"What about you? Did you get to view what could have been?" He asked angrily.

"No. I was not rewarded like you have been. But if they had given me the option I would have refused. There is no point in dwelling on what could never be." Severus paused and debated with himself whether he should ask his next question.

"Is Tobias here, in this realm?" He hoped she would say no.

"No. Tobias is still alive." Severus looked at her in shock.

"They told me he died."

"They?"

"The police, they called me at Spinner's End when I was eighteen. He had been gone for a week. I had assumed he had died from an overdose."

"Did they let you view his body?"

"No." He said, looking baffled.

"Then I would assume that he asked one of his pub mates to ring you, pretending to be a police officer." She said matter-of-factly, without a single note of emotion in her voice.

"That son-of-a-bitch." Severus cursed angrily.

"I have been assured from the-powers-that-be that he will not end up in this realm once he passes." She told him.

"I'd kill him with my own hands, if I could. He does not deserve to live after what he did to you." Severus said between clenched teeth.

"I have the same sentiment, Severus... except I would kill him for ever having laid a hand on you." Severus looked up at her and nodded solemnly.

"Our time together is running short." She said with a sigh.

"This is Heaven. How could our time be running short?"

"My punishment for having let Tobias beat you is a hundred Earth years of doing what I have just done for you."

"You council the dead?" He snorted. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes and I do a very fine job at it, thank you." Severus smiled.

"Now then, son, I believe there is a young lady waiting to speak with you." Severus got up from his seat.

"Thank you, mother."

"You are very welcome, my son. I hope your eternity here will be better than your life on Earth." He gave her a small smile.

"Oh, and Severus? I think you should apologize to that young lady for walking away from her. It took a lot of courage for her to tell you the truth." Eileen started to walk away.

"Wait. When Lily came to you, what did she see?" Eileen smiled.

"It is not for me to tell. Good luck Severus." She disappeared.

* * *

><p>Snape POV<p>

I woke up with a gasp and groaned. My head was pounding. I opened my eyes and yelled out in surprise. In front of my face was a young boy peering down at me; Albus.

"You're up! You know it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon, right? I've been waiting here for an hour for you to get up. You snore, by the way. Anyway, I found this book at the library and I think it's the one we've been looking for. I just need you to read it to make sure." He said in what I thought was an overly loud voice. My head was in too much pain to process all his words.

"You talk too much." I rasped.

"Hmm, I heard that sounds actually make hangovers worse." He said with a glare. I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. So you better get your sorry arse up because the potion in this book takes a week to make. Oh, and mum sent me over with a hangover potion. I'll be expecting you in the library in an hour." He was gone.

I'd wondered these past few days how he could have gotten into Slytherin. He seemed like too much of a Gryffindor, but now I can see what the hat saw in him.

I took the potion and showered. When I got out of the shower I realised that I hadn't shaved in 3 days and must look like a caveman. I swiped the mirror with my hand and gasped. It took me a moment to realise that I was not in my own body. My heart rate slowly got back to normal as I shaved this face. I finished shaving and rinsed off my face but there was still something on it. I grabbed some soap and scrubbed at my face. When I looked up the dirt was still there. I put my face right up the mirror and realised that I didn't have dirt on my face, it was freckles. There were freckles on my cheeks and nose. As I continued to study my face I realised that my nose was also larger then I remembered it to be from looking at it 3 days ago when I shaved my face. It was nowhere near as large as my nose and it was not hooked like mine, but it was a little crooked. I remembered the nose being crooked but not this large. Was I imagining these changes? No, the freckles were definitely not there before. What was happening to me? First it was the eye glasses and now this. Could it be part of the spell? I would need to read that book Albus had talked about to find out. I quickly dressed and rushed to the library.

**So a few interesting things happened. I have a few more things planned before this story ends. Oh, and please review! :D**


	26. Ginny's Help

**Umm... hi, sorry it's been so long (hides away in shame). I had started writing this chapter about five months ago and then lost interest and got inspired again today. It might be a little boring, but it's leading up to some more interesting stuff. Sorry to have made you wait so long and thanks again for the support. Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

_**Here's what happened so far:**_

**-Albus Severus Potter found a diary in Aunt Petunia's attic that belonged to his grand-mother; Lily. He discovers that his biological grand-father is not James Potter, but Severus Snape.**

**-Albus tells Harry and Harry is shocked and goes to the Shrieking Shack to clear his mind.**

**-In the middle of the night the kids go to Hogwarts to speak to Snape's portrait**

**-Harry and Ginny can't find the kids and go on a hunt to find them.**

**-They enter a Death Eater apartment and Harry gets hit by a spell**

**-Harry is cleared of any side effects from the spell and he goes to Hogwarts with Ginny where they find James is unconscious because a portrait fell on him because portrait Snape got angry. Snape lost his temper because he thought the children were mocking him by declaring they were his grand-children.**

**-Soon after, Harry has a heart attack.**

**-Snape is in Harry's body and he, with the help of Albus, search for a way to reverse what has happened.**

**-Harry wakes up on a beach and speaks to his mother.**

**-He also speaks to Sirius, Fred, Remus and James.**

**-James tells Harry that things with Snape in the afterlife are peaceful and that he has been at peace in the afterlife.**

**-Harry also finds out that his mom and Snape are together in the afterlife and that he only has a matter of hours before he returns to his real life.**

**-Severus starts to get flashbacks of his afterlife and has found Lily's diary, which consequently he finds out he is Harry's biological father.**

**-Severus gets to see what it would have been like to live a life with Lily and Harry.**

**-Severus and Al have found a way to bring Harry back to his own body.**

**Onto the story...**

Snape POV

I sat in the library for over four hours, reading and re-reading the book that Albus had given me. It was astonishingly easy to make the counter potion. The potion took seven days to make, but it had to be made on the first of the month. The first of August was three days away, plenty of time for me to collect the potions ingredients. Once the potion was ingested, a simple spell needed to be incanted.

According to the book the spell had been conducted over 30 times; much more than the articles had recounted. Only five ended in deaths, and six ended in lunacy. The odds were pretty good that Potter and I would return to our rightful places without permanent damages. Yes, no permanent damages... But something else would be permanent. Potter would not be happy about this new development.

The chapter on side effects of the spell did not go into further details than the last book, but I was pretty certain that no one had been possessed by their biological father, who they had not known was their father, while they were permanently transfigured to look like another man's child. I went through the equations within the book and added my own variables. The probability that Potter's features would change back to how they were before the possession was 1.2%. The longer I stayed within Potter's body the more his features will change to how they were meant to be. I don't know what this body will look like within a week, but the changes could be drastic. I only hoped that it was not in his genetics to get my unfortunate nose. I would need to speak to Ginny Potter about this. Her support would be very much needed when this whole ordeal was over.

It was late afternoon when I arrived at the Potter household. The children were playing outside, laughing without a care in the world. Ginny walked outside and yelled for the children to go into the house. I walked into view and saw Ginny give me a bright smile. But, then her smile dropped and I realised she had momentarily thought I was her husband.

"Severus." She said when I got closer, giving me a tight smile.

"Mrs. Potter," I said in greeting.

"There is a matter in which I need to discuss with you."

"Um, okay. We're actually about to sit down to eat, but you're welcome to join us." I hesitated.

"I would... like that very much. Thank you." Ginny smiled and I followed her into her home.

"Hey, Severus!" Albus yelled out excitedly.

"Hello Albus." I smiled at him.

"You're eating here with us? I thought you never got out of your bat cave." Lily asked, sounding genuinely perplexed.

"Lily!" Ginny scolded her.

"Sorry Severus."

"It is completely alright. It is true that I have not exited the dungeons in quite awhile." Ginny nodded, and set the food on the table.

"Did you hear that Hugo got a prefects badge in the mail last night? He owled me just this morning." James said to his mother.

"No, I didn't, that's great." Ginny smiled. "I'll make sure to congratulate him tonight." Albus scowled down at his potatoes.

"Did you not get a prefects badge, Albus?" I asked.

"No. But, whatever, I didn't want one anyway."

"James got a prefects badge when he was a third year. Al just doesn't want to admit he's jealous." Lily whispered to me. I nodded thoughtfully.

"If I recall correctly Harry did not receive a prefects badge. Albus, you do not have to be a prefect to be great." I said. Albus smiled and seemed to glow for the rest of the meal.

"Thank you," Ginny mouthed and smiled at me gratefully. Once supper was over, I got to speak to Ginny. I told her about my earlier discoveries.

"So, he'll come back and look like this?" She asked, gesturing to me.

"Yes."

"You don't look that different... I'm sure most people wouldn't notice the changes. We could say that Harry finally decided to buy muggle contact lenses."

"If we do not change back to our respective places soon, the changes may be more... evident."

"How evident?"

"I cannot answer that. We would have to know what he was supposed to look like if he had not been glamoured."

"So you're saying that his features are reverting back to the way they were supposed to?"

"Yes."

"Maybe it won't be so bad..." She trailed off.

"Poor Harry will be in for such a shock." She added and I smiled.

"Yes, I daresay he will be. The greasy bat of the dungeons as his father? Laughable." Ginny frowned.

"You should stop speaking down about yourself. Harry respected you very much after your death. It hit him hard to find out his mother had lied to him, and yes, it was very shocking to find out you were his father. But... I think, in a way, he was glad that you were his father. We named Albus after you, after all." I stood silently as I digested this information.

"Thank you, for your kindness." I said, finally. She gave me a small smile.

"When do you think the potion will be ready?"

"By next week." I said.

"I'm sorry you had such a short time here."

"Do not be sorry. It is more time than I ever thought I would get. It is time that I went back to where I belong."

"If you hadn't been such an awful teacher, I might have actually liked you." She said with a laugh. I smiled at her.

"Before I leave there are a few things I must do, would you be able to assist me?"

"Yes, of course. What do you need?"

"It had been my assumption that my father had died before I had, but I have recently found out that he outlived me. I need to make sure he is dead now. If he isn't I will be paying him a visit."

"Severus, how is it do you think I can help you?"

"You have resources at the ministry that I do not have access to."

"I don't have as much access as Harry would. Why don't you go in as Harry? They'd give you the moon if they could."

"I... avoided the ministry as much as I could when I was alive and would not know where to begin."

"We'll go in together then. When do you want to do this?"

"Tomorrow I am gathering the ingredients for the potion. Albus can join me if he wants to. I would like to go in the afternoon, if that is amenable to you."

"Yes, that's fine. But, Severus, what is it exactly you plan to do if you do find him?"

"I am going to make him suffer."

**Please review!**


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